Ahead of the February 2023 general elections, the National Human Rights Commission said it would be organising a town hall for gubernatorial candidates in 18 states of the federation beginning from 1st to 3rd February 2023.
A statement on Tuesday by the NHRC, Fatimah Mohammed said the Commission will be organising the town hall in collaboration with Civil Society Organisations, United Nations System in Nigeria and the Media, noting that this is “targeted at making human rights issues part of the election discussion, improving citizens’ participation in the general elections, deepening our democracy and the overall safety of citizens before, during after the elections.”
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Chief Tony Ojukwu OFR, while making the disclosure in Abuja stated that the town hall will provide an opportunity for governorship candidates of all the political parties in the country to highlight their plans and views on key issues of promotion and protection of human rights of citizens in their respective states.
According to Ojukwu, since the primary purpose of government is the security and welfare of citizens, it is important to engage governorship candidates to clearly state what they have to offer to the people, particularly their plan on human rights protection. It is important to extract commitments from these candidates to close the widening gap in healthcare services, education, food security, potable water, sanitation, electricity, good road networks, brutality and impunity, civil protests and most importantly, the shrinking of civic space.
The commission organized a similar event for presidential candidates in December 2022.
