Atiku Abubakar, presidential
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was conspicuously absent at
the signing of peace accord for the 2019 elections.
The accord was organised by the
National Peace Committee which said invitation was sent to all 73 presidential
candidates contesting the 2019 elections.
Aside Atiku, Donald Duke of
Social Democratic Party (SDP), Kingsley Moghalu of Young Progressives Party
(YPP), Oby Ezekwesili of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) and Omoyele
Sowore of Action Alliance, were also absent.
Abdulsalami Abubakar, former head of state and chairman of the
committee, underscored the essence of peace towards ensuring credible polls.
He thanked Buhari for his
commitment to ensuring peaceful elections but said security should be a source
of worry to everyone.
Abubakar cautioned leaders that
their acts of commission or omission could make matters worse, appealing to
them to lead by example and temper their utterances and action with
responsibility and patriotism.
Adeyeye Ogunwusi, ooni of Ife;
Abdulsalami Abubakar, former head of state;.and Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman,
at the event. The former head of state condemned the subtle incitement coming
from some religious houses, saying they do not portend well for the country.
He appealed to all participants
to endeavour to stick to the contents of the peace pact they signed, and to
INEC to carry out its mandate as expected of it.
He added that mere signing of the
document will not achieve anything except all concerns accept to work by the
rules.
Yakubu Gowon, also a former head
of state, said the peace accord should be seen as a positive development for
the country.
Gowon, who spoke on “Trust and
Democracy”, charged leaders not to betray their role in properly managing the
resources of the country.
“The beauty of democracy is that
it avails citizens the right to have a say in how they are governed; this right
is abridged by the most brutal dictators in the word. Democracy despite
persuasion and the use of force,” he said.
“Military incursion into our
politics has led to misery and underdevelopment of our richly endowed nation
and contributed to defective democracy. All hope is not lost for the
enthronement of true democracy in the country, which is why we must commend the
NPC in sensitising everyone that elections are not do or die contests.
“We should encourage them to
consolidate on the successes of 2015, so that we can have even better polls in
2019. There are better issues of development than pursuing agenda of violence
and hate speech. Promotion of ethnic and religious or mutual suspicion will not
make us see the best in us, and will defeat the essence of democracy.
“There will be no benefit to
allow the negatives override the positives in us. All those who aspire to lead
the people should be acceptable and be seen to be acceptable to the people.
That has worked and continues to work in good societies.
“I commend the political an
parties and candidates here for showing commitment and putting the nation above
political differences. Nigeria must win, and the nation will lose if we set
aside the gains of this conference.
“I’m hopeful you will honour the
pledge of ensuring our elections are free of violence. Your conduct will
determine how the game is played and I plead with you to ensure your supporters
play by the rules.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com