The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, President Muhammadu Buhari and that of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, today, signed another peace accord.
Read: National peace accord signing: How Buhari and Atiku looked during the event
President Buhari said the essence of the peace accord is for all the presidential candidates to “commit ourselves to do all that is possible to ensure the success of the elections but most importantly to accept the final outcome”.
I am making a special appeal to our young people: Do not allow yourselves to be used to cause violence. Please eschew all forms of violence and cooperate with all the relevant agencies during these elections. We will vote according to Parties, but in the end, the only real Party is Nigeria, our country. Our elections are important only to the extent that they make her strong. Let us do our best and ask God to bless us and our country.
Atiku Abubakar said “For emphasis and in the spirit of fair play, I also urge our security agencies, not to embark on indiscriminate arrests of members of the opposition, 24 to 48 hours before elections, as has been the case in previous elections,” the statement read in part.
“Hopefully, our democracy should emerge stronger from this process with the 2019 elections proving better managed than the 2015 process, which was adjudged free and fair with the then opposition’s victory unobstructed
“Consequently, I also appeal to the President, General Buhari, to use his good office to ensure that every eligible person who casts their vote is confident in the process and in the belief that their vote will count.
The signing was at the International Conference Centre, ICC in Abuja.
Some dignitaries present include; the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, the secretary-general of the Commonwealth; Patricia Scotland, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Kukah, Abdulsalami Abubakar, the chairman of the National Peace Committee and other members of the National Peace Committee (NPC).