Ariwoola-led council urges 2027 presidential candidates to reject hate speech

Nigeria’s presidential candidates should keep hate speech, inflammatory remarks and violence out of their campaigns, the Council of the Wise said at an advocacy meeting in Abuja.

The council, chaired by former Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola, made the appeal during a meeting with Peoples Redemption Party presidential candidate and former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke. It urged Duke to ensure that his campaign avoided rancour and statements that could incite violence.

With campaigning under way for the 2027 presidential election, the council said political tension had increased and some Nigerians feared that violence could overshadow the poll. It also called on candidates and their supporters to follow electoral laws and guidelines and to focus their campaigns on issues affecting Nigerians.

“

The 2007 general election through which the late Umaru Musa YarAdua was elected President was generally regarded as flawed, which he himself publicly admitted.

Ariwoola said Nigerian elections since 1999 had been marked by violence, hate speech, rigging, vote-buying and other malpractice. He pointed to the 2007 election, which former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua acknowledged as flawed, and the failure to implement most recommendations from an electoral reform committee established during his presidency.

He also recalled the violence that followed the 2011 election, when more than 1,000 people were killed, particularly in northern states. Ariwoola said those unresolved problems continued to threaten later elections. The Savannah Centre established the Council of the Wise in 2014, with support from the MacArthur Foundation, to promote peaceful, transparent and credible elections. Reconstituted in June 2026 as an 11-member body, it plans to continue mediation and other interventions before, during and after the 2027 elections.

“

Sadly, death took him (YarAdua) in 2010 before the implementation of the Committee’s report, of which 90% of its recommendations were accepted by the Government but not implemented.