Presidential Aspirants: Jonathan and Buhari sign peace pact

Abuja - President Goodluck Jonathan and the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate  Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday signed an undertaking urging their supporters to shun violence during and after the February general elections reports Newswire.

Both signed the political pact when the met at  the all political stakeholders national workshop on violence-free elections in Abuja.

The signing was witnessed by the national chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu and his APC counterpart, John Oyegun.

High point of the event was the warm embrace of President Jonathan and Buhari.

News24

The pact tagged ‘Abuja Declaration Accord’, was signed at a sensitization workshop on non-violence organized by the Offices of the National Security Adviser and the Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Affairs.

The Accord commits the candidates to the following:
1. To run issue-based campaigns at national, state and local government levels devoid of religious incitement and ethnic or tribal profiling.
2. To refrain from making public statements, pronouncements, declarations or speeches that have the capacity to incite any form of violence before, during and after the election.
3. To forcefully and publicly speak out against provocative utterances and oppose all acts of electoral violence, whether perpetrated by supporters and/or opponents.
4. To commit themselves and their parties to the monitoring of the adherence to the accord, if necessary, by a national peace committee made up of respected statesmen and women, traditional and religious leaders.
5. All the institutions of government including INEC and security agencies must act and be seen to act with impartiality”.

Anyaoku said the objective of the workshop was to give all the contestants an opportunity for constructive criticism on how to ensure violence-free elections.

He said: “Regrettably, we cannot deny that in our country we have history of violence occurring before, during and after elections.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/361951-details-of-peace-pact-signed-by-presidential-candidates.html