- Accuses Police of partiality
- APC, LP, ADC, ADP, APGA, others pledge to accept election results
- IGP promises level playing field for all parties
Political parties and their candidates participating in the September 21 Edo governorship elections have signed the peace accord.
However, the People’s Democratic Party refused to sign the agreement.
The signing of the peace accord took place on Thursday at the Victor Uwaifo creative hub in Benin City, Edo state capital.
Monday Okpebholo, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, and his Labour Party counterpart, Olumide Akpata, signed the peace accord.
Other parties that signed the document included Accord Party, Accord Alliance, African Action Congress African Democratic Congress, Action Democratic Party and All Progressives Grand Alliance Grand Alliance Grand Alliance.
The Allied Peoples Movement, Action Peoples Party, Labour Party, National Rescue Movement, Peoples Redemption Party, the Social Democratic Party, Youth Party, and the Young Progressives Party also signed the peace accord.
Speaking at the event, Mahmood Yakubu, chair of the Independent National Electoral Commission, commended Abdulsalami Abubakar, chair of the national peace committee and the committee for their efforts in bringing parties, candidates and other stakeholders together for peaceful polls in Nigeria.
Yakubu urged political parties and their candidates to commit themselves to the implementation and terms of the accord.
He urged the parties and candidates to pass the message to their supporters at all levels for total compliance.
On his part, Kayode Egbetokun, inspector-general of police, promised that the force will provide a level playing ground for all political parties.
Tony Aziegbemi, chairman of the PDP in Edo, was present at the event but did not sign the document.
IGP promises level playing field for all parties
Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has promised a level playing field for all political parties and their candidates participating in the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
He stated this on Thursday during a peace accord in Benin City, the state capital.
Egbetokun said the police would collaborate with other security agencies to assist the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure a free and fair election.
“As we all know, the police in collaboration with other security agencies will be supporting to conduct the governorship election in this state on Saturday, September 21,” he said.
The police boss said the Nigeria Police Force is aware of its responsibility in protecting the integrity of the electoral process.
He stated that police officers would be apolitical, while being vigilant in exercising their duties on September 21.
“I am here today to affirm our commitment to a peaceful and secure electoral process. We recognise the importance of this moment and the trust placed in us to ensure the integrity of this election.
“We would remain impartial, professional and vigilant while providing a level playing ground for all the political parties and their candidates.”
The IGP also called on all stakeholders to embrace peace, tolerance and respect to democracy, calling for synergy for a smooth election.
PDP gives conditions for peace
However, the PDP, through its State Chairman, Anthony Aziegbemi, insisted, among other conditions, that its members and chieftains who have been illegally arrested in Gestapo style by the Police and whisked to secret holding centres in Abuja be immediately and unconditionally released or charged to a court of competent jurisdiction before it would consider the signing of the accord.
Also, thousands of Edo women on Thursday converged on Benin City, to protest against police partiality in the run-up to the governorship election, demanding the release of their husbands, children, sons and fathers who were illegally arrested and detained by the Police in collusion with the APC.
Aziegbemi, in a statement on Thursday, said it would only be unfair, unconscionable and unreasonable to request a party that is currently under a vicious attack by the opposing party, utilizing the illegal services of the police to step forward to sign a peace accord.
He further demanded an undertaking by the Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission to operate a level playing field and not allow themselves to be used as a private army by one of the parties in the election
According to him, “The people of Edo State are well known to be peaceful and law-abiding, particularly in the conduct of elections and we are certain that Your Excellency, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, with the benefit of previous experience, will bear witness to this fact.
“In the course of preparations for this election however, strange and disturbing new elements have been introduced in particular by a party that has apparently reached the conclusion that it cannot prevail in a free, fair and peaceful election.
“That party and its senior officials have openly boasted about their intention to deploy ‘Federal Might’ to ensure victory despite the will or wishes of Edo people.
The Edo women, protesting in Benin matched in their numbers through major roads within the Benin metropolis, from King Square through Airport Road, among others, carrying placards with various inscriptions to register their displeasure over the partiality of the police leading to the politically motivated arrest and detention of their family members.
The protesters who were all dressed in black attire also made a stop at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub in Benin City, which was the venue for the signing of the Peace Accord for the September 21 governorship election, demanding for a free, fair and credible election in the state.
