In Nigeria, Henry Dickson calls for a summit against political violence
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Tribune Online, Punch and Daily Post
Nigeria Democratic Congress leader Henry Seriake Dickson is calling for an emergency summit of all parties to halt violence targeting its members, candidates and supporters ahead of the 2027 elections. According to Punch, he is asking the Inter-Party Advisory Council, the peace committee chaired by Abdulsalami Abubakar, INEC and the security forces to convene the meeting without delay.
In a statement published on Sunday, Henry Seriake Dickson says attacks on his party are becoming too frequent and too dangerous to ignore. He cites the storming of the NDC meeting hall in Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos, by armed assailants carrying machetes, sticks and stones, where the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and its candidate for governor of Lagos, Funso Doherty, were present. He calls on the police and other security services to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of this attack as well as those behind other recent assaults.
The peace committee, chaired by former head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar and convened by the Catholic bishop of the Sokoto diocese, Matthew Kukah, had already warned about tensions a month earlier. In a joint statement, it recorded 60 election-related incidents in a single month, whether violence, intimidation, threats, attacks on political activities or disinformation. It called on President Bola Tinubu, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and other political actors to show restraint.
In the same statement, Henry Dickson says he has held talks with several NDC leaders and has ordered that their grievances be addressed. He calls for speeding up the publication of lists of members due to sit on the committees of the National Campaign Council, and for financial support for state chapters ahead of the electoral deadlines. He also urges candidates for the assemblies and governorship posts to recruit, vet and train their polling-unit monitoring agents, with training due to begin in late November and continue throughout December.
