The National Peace Committee has invited political parties, presidential candidates in the 2023 presidential election and their spokespersons to sign peace accords that will commit them to issue-based campaigns.

Among the many presidential candidates seeking to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari are Labour Party’s Peter, PDP’s Atiku Abubakar and APC’s Bola Tinubu.

According to an invitation letter sighted on Thursday, the candidates and the spokespersons have been invited to sign the first peace accord on September 29 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

In a letter signed by the chairman of NPC, Abdulsalami Abubakar, the peace accords will be signed twice ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“The first signing is scheduled to happen at the start of the campaigns this September and the second in January of 2023, just before the elections,” the letter stated. “The first accord signing is intended to commit political parties, candidates and their spokespersons to conduct their campaigns (both online and offline) in a peaceful manner, devoid of ethnic, religious and hateful rhetoric that will incite violence and further aggravate the growing tension and insecurity in the nation.” 

According to the letter, the essence of the accord is to promote issue-based campaigns.

“These interventions are to complement ongoing peace initiatives aimed at promoting a violence-free and inclusive electioneering process before, during and after the declaration of the final election results,” the letter stated. 

(NAN)