Political parties vying for the various legislative positions in the forthcoming general election in Edo State on Thursday agreed to a violence-free poll with the signing of a Peace Accord.
Speaking at the signing event organised by the Edo State command of the Nigeria police force for political parties in Benin City, Obo Efanga, Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said the commission was ready for the elections slated for February 25 and March 11.
Efanga, while noting that the electoral body has committed resources and time for the election, called for collective efforts among Nigerians to ensure the success of the poll.
According to him, “The success of the election depends on all of us; the people conducting the election are Nigerians, those providing logistic support, security, contesters, voters, results collators and announcers are Nigerians. If we fail in our duties and responsibility to the nation, the election stands the risk of not being successful.”
He stressed that everybody, including the political class has a role to play in ensuring that the coming election is successful by playing by the rules.
“Some of these rules are set by the law, some are set by INEC while others set by the political parties. If we breach any of these rules, it would affect the success of the election,” he added.
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Muhammed Dankwara, Edo State commissioner of police, on his part, cautioned politicians to obey the rules as anyone who does otherwise would be dealt with no matter how highly placed the person is in the state.
“Election is not a do-or-die affair. We should always put it at the back of our mind that whoever wins the election is part of us and Nigeria must continue to exist.
“The political parties control their candidates; we invited them for this peace accord to hear the dos and dont’s of the election and whoever crosses the line, we would go after them no matter how highly placed the person is.
“For a very long time now we have been enjoying peace in Edo state, so we should not allow anyone to use us to cause crisis. Anybody who wants to truncate the peace and cause breakdown of law and order would be seriously dealt with,” Dankwara said.
Anselm Ojezua, who signed on behalf of PDP, expressed confidence that the contestants will abide by the rules of engagement, saying “these are not new rules but rules that have endured over time. They have worked for us in the past and I expect that they will work for us again. No serious political party will want to function in an election that is fraught with violence or mischief. We usually encourage our members to sell their candidates, tell the people what they are able to do and let them be the judge.
The parties that participated in signing the peace accord are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Action Alliance (AA), Boot Party (BP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), among others.
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