16th September, 2022
Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu, Peter Obi, and other 2023 presidential candidates have been invited by the National Peace Committee (NPC) to sign peace accords that will commit them to issue-based campaigns.
According to an invitation letter sighted on Thursday, the candidates and their spokespersons have been invited to sign the first peace accord on Sept. 29 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
The letter signed by the Chairman of NPC, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (Rtd), said the peace accords will be signed twice ahead of the 2023 general polls.
“The first signing is scheduled to happen at the start of the campaigns this September and the second in January of 2023 just before the elections.
“The first accord signing is intended to commit political parties, candidates and their spokespersons to conduct their campaigns (both online and offline) in a peaceful manner, devoid of ethnic, religious and hateful rhetoric that will incite violence and further aggravate the growing tension and insecurity in the nation,’’ the letter reads.
According to the letter, the essence of the accord is to promote issue-based campaigns.
“These interventions are to complement ongoing peace initiatives aimed at promoting a violence-free and inclusive electioneering process before, during and after the declaration of the final election results.”