President Muhammadu Buhari has charged the political parties and their presidential candidates to respect the choice of voters and accept the result of the 2023 presidential elections as will be announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Buhari gave the charge during the signing of the second National Peace Accord among the contestants at the International Conference Center in Abuja.
The president used the opportunity to plead to the electorate to be peaceful and to shun riots or acts of violence after the announcement of election results.
On his part, the chairman of the National Peace Committee, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, in his welcome address, noted that there was a lack of compliance by the major political parties in the first pact signed saying that 44% of the violations were carried out by the spokespersons of the political parties.
The INEC Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu and stakeholders at the event also cautioned the contestants to play by the rules.
The presidential candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter Obi, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Alhaji Musa Kwankwaso and others signed the peace pact.
The event, which was the second in the series, was organised by the National Peace Committee, headed by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar in conjunction with the Kukah Centre.