Tobias Sylvester
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has finally signed the peace accord for the 2019 general elections.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) accused him of deliberately missing to sign the peace accord signing ceremony on Tuesday, December 11, 2018.
However, Atiku and his party, the PDP issued a statement explaining that he was not officially invited for the Peach Accord signing ceremony. Read the report HERE.
On Wednesday, December 12, 2018, Atiku finally signed the peace accord and pledged his commitment to peaceful elections before the chairman of the National Peace Committee, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and some European Union delegates.
He arrived for the signing accompanied by the PDP national chairman, Uche Secondus, and other party members.
Reacting to Atiku’s late signing of the Peace Accord, the APC accused of intentionally missing out the event.
According to Vanguard, the spokesman of the ruling APC, Lanre Issa-Onilu said:
“Atiku’s eventual decision to sign the peace deal is clearly a face-saving move following widespread condemnation that greeted his initial refusal to agree to the peace deal. We, however, must not lose sight of the dangerous and ominous signs the PDP and Atiku have inadvertently shown Nigerians in the leadup to the elections.
“Again, this brings to the fore, PDP’s open declaration in August this year that the Party will deploy all “means, schemes, shenanigans in all ramification and magnitude” to manipulate the 2019 election.
“For signing the 2019 election national peace accord, the Party affirms the commitment of the President Muhammadu Buhari led APC government to a free and fair electoral process. The APC government has an abiding pledge towards a participatory, peaceful, credible and transparent elections”.
“The APC reiterates that security and other relevant agencies must be on high alert to check this dangerous threat posed by the PDP’s planned actions for the general elections. In 2019 and beyond, the votes of the electorate must count and the will of the electorate must prevail. We must stand against and resist plans by retrogressive elements who are now nested in the PDP and their agents to disrupt elections through violence and other undemocratic practices.
Peace Accord is an undertaking by all the presidential candidates to ensure peaceful and rancor-free campaigns before, during and after the 2019 general elections.
