Political parties and their candidates in Delta State have signed a peace pact to be of good behaviour in the build-up to the February 25, and March 11, general elections.
The peace accord was organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in collaboration with the Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ) and other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the state.
Addressing newsmen shortly after the signing of the accord, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, the Executive Director of CEPEJ, said the political parties were ready to support INEC to actualise peaceful elections.
He said, “As a peace advocate, with my organisation championing peace in the Niger Delta, I deem it fit to collaborate with INEC to actualise peace during the elections.”
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Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State yesterday declined to sign a peace accord ahead of the general elections.
The peace accord was organised by INEC in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to promote peaceful conduct of the elections.
In an interview with newsmen, state Chairman of PDP, Major Gen Abnon Kwaskebe (Rtd), said they declined to sign the document because the police allegedly failed to protect the party and its facilities in the state.
But reacting, the state’s Commissioner of Police (CP), Oqua Etim, decried the decision of the PDP not to sign the peace accord, saying, “It is unfortunate that only the PDP out of 14 political parties didn’t sign, and it is not only their billboards that are destroyed. Even churches and other commercial entities have their billboards destroyed.”
By Meluwa Kelvin (Asaba) & Haruna Gimba Yaya (Gombe)
