President Goodluck Jonathan, General Muhammadu Buhari (ret) and 12 other presidential candidates has signed an undertaking to ensure free and fair polls as well as run issue-based campaigns for the forthcoming general elections in the country.
Apart from the duo, the chairmen of the two dominant parties, Adamu Mu’azu (PDP) and Odigie Oyegun (APC), also hugged themselves in a bid to send a signal to their supporters to shun violence.
This came as all the 14 presidential candidates of the various parties contesting the election also signed a peace agreement to ensure free, fair and credible polls.
The peace agreement otherwise known as “Abuja Accord” by the organizers of the event essentially barred the contestants from making inciting speeches in whatever guise that could cause the eruption of violence before, during and after the elections.
The Accord
The accord read: “We the undersigned presidential candidates of the under-listed political parties contesting in the general elections of 2015; desirous of taking proactive measures to prevent electoral violence before, during and after the elections; anxious about the maintenance of a peaceful environment for the 2015 general elections; reaffirming our commitment to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; desirous of sustaining and promoting the unity and corporate existence of Nigeria as an indivisible entity; determined to avoid any conduct or behaviour that will endanger the political stability and national security of Nigeria; determined to place national interest above personal and partisan concerns; and reaffirm our commitment to fully abide by all rules and regulations as laid down in the legal framework for elections in Nigeria, hereby commit ourselves and our party to the following:
*To run issue-based campaigns at national, state and local government levels; in this, we pledge to refrain from campaigns that will involve religious incitement, ethnic or tribal profiling; both ourselves and agents acting in our names.
*To refrain from making, or causing to make our names or that of our party, any public statements, pronouncements, declarations or speeches that have the capacity to incite any form of violence, before, during and after the elections.
*To commit ourselves and political parties to the monitoring of the adherence to this accord by a national peace committee made up of respected statesmen and women, traditional and religious leaders.
*All institutions of government including INEC and security agencies must act and be seen to act with impartiality and to forcefully and publicly speak out against provocative utterances and oppose all acts of electoral violence whether perpetrated by our supporters and/or opponents.”
10 causes of violence – Jega
The Chairman of INEC, Jega, among other things identified 10 causes of violent elections in Nigeria.
He said: “In answering the question of what makes our elections so prone to violence, I have identified specific as well as general causes of violent elections which have been identified by scholars. In particular, I have paid attention to the causes which are attributed in countries such as Nigeria to the tendency for contestants, political parties, politicians to see electoral contest as something that you have to engage in and that you must win at all cost.
“In a country like Nigeria, where there is what scholars called low level of institutionalization, stakeholders tend to use resources at their control in the contest for political power and Samuel Huntington said, the ‘wealthy will bribe, the students will riot, the workers will strike, the mob will demonstrate and the military will coup’.
“Of course, this depends on the extent which the political party, candidates and other vested interests now try to mobilize and to win power at all cost. So, it is very, very important to recognize that in a country like Nigeria, there are many factors that can lead to violence in an elections.
“Attitude and the disposition of parties and candidates will determine to a large extent whether we will have peaceful and non-violent elections. So, parties and contestants, although have responsibility to ensure peaceful conduct of elections. Of course, there are other agencies, the election management body has an important responsibility. It has to do its job with competence, with professionalism and with non partisanship. Security agencies also have to do their jobs.
“I have identified what I called 10 tenets of non-violent elections specifically on what we will expect. The first one obviously is internal party democracy, effective intra-party conflict resolution, accountability, Supremacy of rules, uncertain electoral outcome, willingness to accept outcomes, moderation of electioneering, trust in institutional redress, promotion of inclusiveness, well trained staff.”
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