Chairman of the Warri South Local Government Area, Dr Michael Tidi, on Monday, appealed residents in the council to conduct themselves peaceful during the upcoming Presidential and National elections taking place on Saturday 25th February 2023.

Tidi, made this plea during an interactive meeting with leaders in all the communities in Warri South Council area and representatives of the Army, Police, NDLEA, SSS and the Civil Defense, held at the Warri South Main Secretariat, Warri Delta State.

He urged all eligible voters to go out to vote for the candidates of their choice stressing that this year’s election was too important to allow just few individuals to decide the faith of the people.

He lamented that overtime, the people from the Southern region of the country have not always come out in their numbers to vote during election.

The Warri South Council Boss commended the community leaders for their prompt response to the meeting, saying that this development was a far cry from what used to be. He said the gathering had shown that Warri is a very peaceful place.

Tidi reminded the people that the era of ballot box snatching was over with the introduction of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS).

“Those era of result writing are done with. This I can tell you categorically. That means to say, there is no need for anyone to fight with INEC officials with the aim of hijacking electoral materials because it will be an effort in futility, Tidi said.

He however, warned that anybody who plans to causes trouble during the election will be made to face the full weight of the law.

On the issue of naira swap crisis, Tidi appealed to Warri resident to bear the effect of the swap, stressing that the issue will soon be resolved.

While acknowledging the fact that the people are going through rough times, he urged them to be patient and remain law abiding.

He thanked God that the recent happenings where some banks were been vandalized by irate youths because of the currency swap, did not happen in Warri South Council area.

“I want to sincerely thank all of in Warri South for the way and manner we conducted ourselves during the agitations that was caused by the naira swap policy.

“Sincerely, those people who are not from this local government were not really sincere to us. The rating of Warri in the past have been very poor, but thank God today, the rating is high. Just look at how coordinated you people are here today. It’s not easy to bring you all here today knowing this is the first day of the week.

“Warri South is a lawful local government and it is expected that anybody who is resident here must comport themselves in tandem with the law.

“In Warri South Council, we try as much as possible to be proactive in all that we do. We are not reactive people., And of course what we are doing here today, is participatory governance in action,” Tidi said.

On the issue of cult activities in the council, Tidi lamented that people can no longer differentiate between the cult boys and yahoo boys, but advised the community leaders not to allow outsiders cause crisis in their communities.

Those who spoke during the interactive session, commended the Warri South Council Chairman for the meeting, just as they promised to work with the council and security agencies to ensure a peaceful election.