The National Peace Committee has condemned the spate of violence in the country barely a few months to the 2023 general election.
The committee which only in September brought all 18 registered political parties and their presidential candidates to commit to peaceful polls, expressed worry that in the past few weeks, politicians have conducted themselves in a manner that betrays the letter and spirit of the peace accord they all endorsed willingly.
In a statement titled, ‘Towards Peaceful Campaigns: Our Concerns,’ and signed by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Kukah and former Military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), the committee expressed sadness over what it called “the deterioration in the communication of fundamental issues among the politicians since the Independent National Electoral Commission lifted the ban on political campaigns on September 28, 2022.”
The statement read in part, “When all the presidential candidates and the party chairmen signed the peace accord, they were committed to infusing a sense of decency, civility and nobility in the political process. The political actors cannot pretend to be oblivious of the content of the peace accord that they signed. Nigerians expect that as men and women of honour, they were committed to keeping their words.
Meanwhile, the new Kano State Police Commissioner, Mr. Mamman Dauda, has pledged to uphold the principles of the 2022 Electoral Act to ensure peaceful conduct of the forthcoming 2023 general election.
