Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to all candidates participating in the country’s Presidential Election on February 25 to respect the choice of the people and accept results announced by the electoral commission.
President Buhari made the appeal at the second Peace Accord signing by the presidential candidates and national chairmen of the 18 political parties in Nigeria.
He stressed the need to keep Nigeria safe and united and therefore advised all aggrieved candidates and their supporters not to resort to riots and violence but rather to go to court and trust the judiciary to make the right judgment.
He said his administration will follow the rule of law to ensure that the elections are credible, free and fair.
The Chairman of the National Peace Committee and former Head of State Retired General Abdulsalami Abubakar lamented the non-compliance to the spirit of the September 29th Peace Accord signed, which committed the candidates to issue-based campaign.
‘On 29th September 2022, the National Peace Committee organized the 1st signing of the National Peace Accord committing the candidates to engage in issue-based campaigns.
‘We also monitored the compliance of the Accord by these politicians and we recorded some of the infractions that were a thing of concern.
‘There was a lack of compliance by the major political parties. 44% of the violations were carried out by the spokespersons of the political parties; 26% by party members; 19% by the presidential candidates themselves; 11% by hardcore supporters; and 4% by chairmen of the parties,’he said.
He urged the presidential candidates to ensure their supporters refrain from fake news, misinformation and disinformation as well as violence after results have been announced.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed that the commission has commenced the distribution of sensitive materials to states.
He further promised that the elections will hold as scheduled.
Present at the Peace Accord signing were leaders from several African countries, representatives from the Commonwealth, the European Union, the ECOWAS, Civil Society Organizations and other International Election Monitoring Groups.
Edited by Amaka E. Nliam
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