The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Yekini Nabena, has cautioned supporters of various presidential aspirants to desist from hate speech.
This is as he urged party members to embrace issue-based campaigns rather than attack each other saying “it is too early to be unnecessarily emotive.”
Nabena’s warning is contained in a statement he signed on Monday where he noted that negative comments pelted at party members could be weaponised by the opposition.
He said aspirants and their various supporters should see themselves as one and play up the advantages of the APC.
“My appeal is for all our members to embrace issues-based campaign strategies in selling whoever they feel should succeed our dear President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. There is no need to be unnecessarily emotive about it.
“I believe that all our presidential aspirants are well qualified to pick the ticket. It is a fact that participatory democracy gives room for choices even within the same political party as it is a practice in the APC.
“We should therefore engage constructively without demonising ourselves bearing in mind that whatever we say against each other now will later be capitalized on by other political parties during the general elections,” he said.
According to him, whoever emerges as the party presidential candidate during the primaries must extend the olive branch to others because the party cannot be divided if it must win an election.
Nabena also expressed the belief that the party would give a level-playing field to all aspirants during the primary and support whoever emerges as the candidate of the party.
“It is also important not to distract both the party and some of our aspirants who are still holding one position of responsibility or the other. We should not deny Nigerians dividends of democracy we promised by unnecessarily heating up the polity,” he said.
