By James Chatim

Civil society activist Edmund Yakani has claimed that there could have been a political hand in the recent widespread communal violence in various parts of the country.

According to Yakani, the violence may have been fanned by political leaders with vested interests.

“We strongly condemn the scale up of the armed communal violence. We also believe that this armed communal violence are politically motivated by some political elites at the various level of government be it national, state or local government level,” the civil society leader said, adding that the deadly incidences could affect the elections if not resolved amicably.

“Our take on this scale up of the armed communal violence is that if it is not concretely resolved in a durable and in a sustainable manner, it will have a direct implication on the country’s preparation for the elections as proposed December 2026. As we are aware, the country is in an extended transitional period with expectation of doing all efforts towards holding peaceful and democratic elections in December 2026. And we have seen factors that may affect the country preparation for the December 2026 elections if they have not been amicably and sustainable or durably resolved,” he added.

However, the civil society activist pointed out that the country needs political decision on the floods issues as it could retard the electoral process.

He proposed a national roundtable to discuss the country’s preparedness for the elections, and that the meeting should include all relevant government actors that have a direct responsibility on planning and designing a conducive environment for elections.

“If the country does not sit down and make a political decision on the matters of the floods and the implication in the country, there’s a likelihood that electoral process also will be affected.”

“It is because of the floods that we are taking this opportunity to call upon the leadership of the country to call for a national roundtable to dialogue on the country’s preparation for holding election in December 2026. For a start, we reach out to all relevant government actors that have a direct responsibility on planning and designing and creating a conducive environment for elections. For us to hold a national round table and of course this will be in a direct partnership with the leadership of our national election commission so that the deliberation around the country readiness and preparedness for holding election in December 2026 is started early,” he said.