Nigeria’s three top presidential election candidates signed an accord on Thursday committing to a peaceful campaign for the 2023 election, reported The Africa News.
Nearly all of the 18 candidates for president including Peoples Democratic Party or PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party candidate Peter Obi and the New Nigerian Peoples Party’s Rabiu Kwankwaso signed the pact at an event in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
Ruling party All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential election candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not present at the signing though his vice presidential running mate appeared in his place.
They’ve also agreed to respect electoral laws before, during and after the elections to ensure a violence-free election process.
Notably, elections in Nigeria are usually held in a tense atmosphere. The National Peace Accord initiative was first introduced during the 2015 election season after post-election violence in 2011 when hundreds of people were killed. Some form of violence or fraud usually accompanies general elections in Nigeria. At least 58 people died in election-related incidents in 2019.
In a recorded video message played during the accord signing ceremony, Nigeria’s outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari urged candidates to run issue-based campaigns, avoid any kind of personal attacks, insults and incitement and not resort to spreading fake news.
The 2023 election will be to choose a successor to Mr Buhari, who is serving his second and final term in office. Campaigning for the crucial election in Africa’s largest democracy officially started on Wednesday, ahead of a February presidential vote.
Nigeria’s next president will inherit a hard task of controlling growing insecurity, separatist agitation, a sluggish economy, double-digit inflation, industrial crude oil theft, and a growing petrol subsidy bill that is draining government finances.
Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission announced in August that 10.5 million Nigerians have joined the electoral register, bringing the total of registered voters to 94 million.
