Eighteen political parties participating in next Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo state have signed a Peace Accord, pledging to promote a peaceful gubernatorial election and accept the results of the upcoming polls, provided they are deemed free and fair.
Chairman of the National Peace Committee, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, urged candidates and parties to uphold democratic tenets and reject vote trading. He emphasized the importance of maintaining the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the country.
The former Nigerian leader stated that “I want to call on all stakeholders to work assiduously in their capacities to ensure that peace reigns supreme during this election and that the Ondo state off-cycle election sets a precedent for other off-cycle elections to emulate.
“While I commend the INEC, for the work done so far, I call on them to continuously live up to their responsibilities in ensuring that eligible voters exercise their franchise peacefully and that the remaining electoral processes are credible free, and fair.
“I must also extol the Nigeria Police Force and members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) for maintaining peace and security in Ondo state.
“It has indeed remained one of the relatively peaceful states in the Country. I therefore urge them to remain resilient in averting any threats of violence and maintaining the peace in the state as we are only a few days away from the elections.
“Furthermore, I want to encourage the good people of Ondo state to exercise their civic duty by coming out en masse to vote for the candidates of their choice and desist from selling their votes, as it contradicts the very essence of democracy.
“It remains the duty of Nigerian citizens to elect their leaders free from any inducements or prejudice. Political actors must also discontinue this menace of vote trading.
“As citizens, you must also respect that only the INEC has the constitutional authority to announce the results, therefore, it behooves the party leaders to ensure that they play a critical role in encouraging their supporters to refrain from making statements that will incite violence within this period especially after the results have been announced.”
Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa commended the National Peace Committee’s efforts and pledged to uphold democracy and the peace accord.
Aiyedatiwa expressed hope that the peaceful atmosphere can be sustained during and after the elections, urging other parties to follow suit.
“This peace accord is a crucial step towards ensuring a peaceful electoral process in Nigeria, building on previous successes in reducing election violence.”
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, assured that the commission has taken necessary steps to ensure hitch free poll in Ondo state.
“For our part, I want to assure you that we have taken measures to address election day challenges, especially the perennial challenge of logistics.
“Over the last four days, I have engaged with our own officials, security agencies and transport service providers here in Ondo State to assess our readiness and perfect our arrangements for the movement of over 17,000 ad hoc and regular officials as well as large quantities of materials to 4,154 voting and collation locations (3,933 polling units, 203 Ward and 18 LGA collation centres).
“In the case of Ondo State, this task is to be accomplished by boat in the two riverine Local Government Areas of Ese Odo and Ilaje, and by a combination of trucks, four wheel vehicles and motorcycles in respect of the mainland areas of the State.
“You should therefore expect to see a remarkable improvement in Election Day logistics. Voters in Ondo State should also expect to see similar improvement in result management.”
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