Actors under the auspices of Celebrities United for Peace (CUP) have announced plans to embark on a tour of the 36 States.
Their mission is to sensitise politicians and the electorate on the peaceful conduct of the 2023 general election.
Andy Chukwu, the convener of the peace concerts stated that it was designed to mobilize the electorate to come under one umbrella, irrespective of party, religious and ethnic affiliations, and support a peaceful electoral process.
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However, they cautioned against the use of hate speech, fake news, and other inciting innuendoes in selling political party candidates.
The celebrities particularly warned against smear campaigns on social media and other platforms, adding that such practices constitute an obvious threat to national unity.
Chukwu, in a maiden press conference at the Bolingo Hotel in Abuja, noted that the electorate is bound to pitch tents with candidates of their choice.
While doing this, celebrities should jettison the temptation to talk down on others or engage in the creation and spread of fake news.
He said:
“Owing to the commencement of electioneering campaigns in line with INEC directives, the electorate are bound to pitch tents with different political parties and candidates. This usually gives rise to verbal warfare as supporters are always ready to go the extra mile to market and promote their candidates. Sometimes this results in hate speech, the dissemination of fake news to discredit their opponents with resultant violence.
“As we have experienced, even before the advent of the 2023 general election calendar, the social media space, regional platforms, and religious communities have been unnecessarily charged by fake news, social instigation, and tribal and religious sentiments. But for the gallantry of our law enforcement agents, especially the DSS whose capacity in intelligence gathering and management has ensured national stability as most of these vices are obvious threats to our national unity and security at large.”
“Our ultimate goal is to reignite unconditional patriotism amongst the citizenry and make the protection of our unity and peaceful corporate existence an endearing necessity of collective interest. To this end, a peaceful 2023 election becomes sacrosanct.
“Our focus is to disabuse the minds of all stakeholders and the general public from extremism, hate speech, fake news dissemination and violent engagement throughout the electoral process.”
