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No fewer than 10 governorship candidates in Adamawa State have signed a peace accord ahead of the 2023 general election.
The 10 of the 15 gubernatorial candidates fielded by political parties signed the peace accord at a ceremony on Saturday in Yola, the state capital.
The event was organised by the police and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Hudu Ari, said the agreement was to ensure free, fair, credible, and peaceful elections.
“I, therefore, implore you to ensure peace before, during and after the election.
“Electoral violence is a great threat to free, fair and credible elections,” he said, adding that violence-free elections would benefit the state.
According to Mr Ari, the signing of the peace accord is a commitment by all candidates towards the conduct of issue-based campaigns through the spirit of sportsmanship by recognising that only one candidate will emerge as the winner at the end of the exercise.
He tasked political parties and their candidates to shun hate speech and educate voters on polling procedures and orderliness.
Mr Ari reiterated the commission’s commitment towards conducting free, fair and credible elections.
The Adamawa Commissioner of Police, Sikiru Akande, commended the parties and their candidates for peaceful electioneering campaigns and urged them to sustain the tempo.
He said there was no political violence recorded since the commencement of the campaign in the state.
“For us, the security services will not do anything to make the level playing ground unfair to anybody.
“And when we achieve that, about 90 per cent of the election problems will be over,” he said, stressing that no meaningful development could be achieved without peace.
Also, the director of the State Security Service (SSS), Babagana Bulama, urged political parties and their candidates to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship and play the game by the rules to ensure peace before, during and after the elections.
“Peace is the foundation of development, hence the need for all to understand and abide by the laws”.
(NAN)
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