Ahead of the 2023 general election, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila have urged political parties in the country and their candidates to focus on issue-based campaigns.
Lawan and Gbajabiamila spoke at a one-day “high-level forum on political communication and issue-based campaign in the 2023 general election” in Abuja.
Lawan said: “Rather than unite us, politics has become a tool for promoting our differences and further endangering national unity.
“Against this background and ahead of the commencement of campaigns, this forum assumes an even greater significance.
“I wish to passionately implore all stakeholders to be conscious of their messaging and focus on an issue-based campaign that shuns violence and hates speech.”
Gbajabiamila noted that legal provisions for political campaigns were already being violated.
The Speaker said the task of a responsible political campaign remains the responsibility of all stakeholders in the nation’s democracy.
He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to strictly apply relevant provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 to curb negative political campaigns.
