International human rights group, Global Peace Movement International, GPMI has said it will in January 2017, visit Nigeria with some international forensic experts over the recently held Rivers state legislative elections rerun.
The group which said it has been monitoring activities in Nigeria in recent weeks said also that it will be conducting and releasing an independent report/assessment on the elections, alongside other human rights related issues which has occupied the front burner of national discourse in recent times.
While speaking to journalists in London, United Kingdom on Tuesday, the President General of Global Peace Movement International, Dr Mike Uyi, said it was high time the country got its act together, as far as elections and human rights were concerned.
He said the elections in Rivers state and other parts of the country which has remained controversial has become a microcosm for the greater ills and democratic challenges that affects the country when it comes to choosing leaders and representatives for the people, pointing out that Nigeria cannot afford to continually remain on the path of self-destruct, ignorance and criminal hostage by a select few.
Dr Uyi said the achievements and activities of Global Peace Movement International remains on public records at national and international levels, particularly in regards to what the group has done to promote democracy, good governance and human rights around the world.
Going down memory lane, he explained that the group was the only international human rights organization that was able to visit and access human rights conditions in Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein, pointing out Global Peace Movement International was the only organization that came out with a report that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
According to him, it eventually took the American and British about 15 years to acknowledge and apologise for the blunder which Global Peace Movement first identified many years ago.
He further explained that the Global Peace Movement International played major humanitarian and human rights roles during the ethnic Albania issues in Eastern Europe; worked with other groups for the eradication of violence and cultism in Nigeria universities and embarked on dangerous peace missions to both the North East and Niger Delta parts of the country.
“As an organization that has been in the forefront of the fight and promotion of democracy and human rights all over the world, it behooves on us to identify these challenges, chart a forward progressive path and bring the reach and network of international rights organizations in the quest to end election violence and promote peace and democracy in the country and on the continent,” Uyi noted.
The human rights activist urged stakeholders to await the outcome of the report, insisting in the final analysis that peace has no alternative.
