Top presidential candidates on Wednesday signed a peace accord promising to guarantee a violence-free election.
President Muhammadu Buhari, of the rulling All Progressives Congress (APC), and ex Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party were among those who signed the peace accord.
The chairman of the national peace committee, ex Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, said the committee made the decision to organize the peace accord signing in order to guarantee peaceful conduct of all elections in the country.
Abdulsalami stated in his welcome remarks that elections will not hold if the atmosphere is not peaceful.
According to him, governance after the election will not exist without a peaceful environment.
He said “Don’t do anything to make a bad situation worse”.
He also reminded the presidential candidates that by signing the peace accord, they are committing themselves to ensuring a peaceful election in Nigeria.
He however lamented over the spread of misinformation in the nation’s mosques and churches and said: “this must be contained.”
Also, ex head of state, Yakubu Gowon, urged candidates to inform their supporters to ensure peaceful conduct during the elections in order for there to be no need for foreign observers in the future because the right conduct would have been assured.
He said, “May the winner be as dictated from above.”
The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, said millions of people across the world are praying for Nigeria and its people are hoping that the forthcoming election will take place peacefully.
According to her the world is holding their breath because Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa with the largest population.
Among those present at the event were former Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is leading the ECOWAS observer mission; Festus Moghai, a former President of Botswana who is heading the Democratic National Institute and Republic National Institute and a former President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete who heads the Commonwealth observer mission.
Also in attendance were several top traditional rulers and other notable citizens from Nigerian and outside.
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