Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on the National Peace Committee (NPC) to engage actors in the political space early to minimise incidences of electoral violence ahead of the 2023 general election, Leadership reports.
The electoral body further implored the NPC to play the role of brokering peace in the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections scheduled for June 18 and July 16, 2022 respectively.
The chairman of the commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, made the call yesterday when he received a delegation from the NPC alongside representatives from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Kofi Annan foundation, led by the head of the NPC secretariat, Rev. Father Atta Barkindo, who represented Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, at the INEC headquarters Abuja.
Yakubu who lauded the contribution of the NPC to peaceful elections through the Peace Accord initiative introduced in 2015, said that nations are lucky when they have moral voices that their authority does not draw from statutory provisions.
He said this exists purely from moral persuasion, adding that “I think it is a big plus for us as a nation to have a national peace committee and the calibre of people involved in the national peace committee.”
The INEC boss, however, appealed to General Abdulsalam Abubakar-led committee for its intervention regarding electoral violence.
Yakubu said, “One of the things that the National Peace Committee can help us do in terms of mitigating security challenges is early engagement with some of the actors.
“Not just signing the peace accord on the eve of elections, but imagine that some of those who perpetrate violence on election day are not necessarily candidates in the election, but are people engaged by beneficiaries of the election.
“So if we can engage with the actors early enough, I hope that we will be able to turn a new leaf in that respect.”
Represented by Barkindo, Kukah explained that they were at the Commission to seek ways to deepen the existing relationship between the NPC and INEC.
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