By STANLEY NWANOSIKE

The candidates of different political parties in Enugu State on Thursday signed a Peace Accord to work toward peaceful, free, fair and credible elections during the upcoming General Elections.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Ahmed Ammani, said that the signing of the peace accord by the candidates was a sign of their sincere commitment to toe the line of peace.

Ammani said that by their participation, the candidates and their party leaders demonstrated obedience to extant laws in the conduct of electioneering activities before, during and after the elections.

According to him, we do this document signing believing very strongly that election is never a do-or-die affair.

“And in every contest of this nature, there must be a winner and a loser,” he said.

The police chief advised that winners in the elections must, as a matter of fact, be magnanimous in victory, while the losers must be gracious in defeat.

“Therefore, we seek your voluntary cooperation and sincere endorsement of this Peace Accord, as a sign of your genuine commitment to conduct your electioneering in the most legally and morally acceptable manner.

“Note that this exercise is done in good faith and completely devoid of any form of compulsion.

“We intend to get nothing but your sincere commitment to peace and transparency for peaceful, credible and acceptable general elections in the state.

“The assurance I bring to you and the good people of Enugu State is that the police, in active collaboration with other security agencies, will continue to work very hard to maintain security.

“We will do everything within our powers to remain non-partisan and provide a level playing field for all of you to carry out your legitimate electioneering before, during and after the elections,” Ammani said.

Contributing, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, said that the commission was doing everything to ensure rancour-free elections.

Chukwu said that INEC had maintained its election timetable as well as carried all stakeholders along as it fine-tuned modalities for the exercise.

“Political parties and their candidates must accommodate and tolerate other political parties for us to achieve peaceful elections,” he said.

Also, Chief Edwin Alor, the state Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), lauded political parties and politicians for maintaining the peace in the state since campaign officially commenced.

Alor said that the state had remained peaceful since electioneering started, pointing out that political parties had effectively moderated the activities of their members, supporters and followers.

He said: “The signing of the peace accord is good but I view it as an exercise to fulfill all righteousness as the electioneering activities have remained very peaceful in the state.

“I must tell you that IPAC has continued to impress upon its members, who are leaders of the political parties, that this state belongs to us all and we must do all to ensure a peaceful state.”

In a message to the event, the Chairman of Enugu State Peace and Security Committee, Igwe Emmanuel Ugwu, urged political parties to keep restraining their supporters to refrain from inflammatory statements and actions.

“We should shun hate speech as well as campaign of calumny and lies.

“Let’s base our campaigns on issues affecting the people,” Ugwu, who is also the Traditional Ruler of Ibegwa Nike Community, said. (NAN)

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