Political Parties to sign peace accord ahead of Edo state elections.

With the Edo state gubernatorial elections fast approaching the political parties involved are set to sign a peace accord on September 12.

The signing of the peace accord, organised together with the National Peace Committee, aims to ensure a peaceful and credible electoral process.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who made this announcement during a meeting with political parties in Abuja on Thursday, provided very important updates on the preparations for the election.

“After consultation with the National Peace Committee under the leadership of our respected former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar GCFR, the signing of the Peace Accord for the Edo State governorship election will take place on Thursday, September 12, 2024, in Benin City.

Supported by eminent members of the Peace Committee, the occasion will be presided over by the Chairman, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.

You may notice that unlike the previous peace, accords signed a few days before the election, it was decided to do so early this time around to enable the Peace Committee to monitor compliance with the code voluntarily signed by parties, candidates and other critical players in the electoral process such as INEC and the security agencies during the remaining days to the election.”

“This will add further weight to the peace accord beyond mere ceremony as demanded by many observers and even some of the political actors themselves,” Yakubu stated.

With just about 3 weeks to the election on September 21, 2024, The INEC Chairman was pleased to announce that they have successfully completed 10 out of 13 planned activities.

“It is exactly 22 days (three weeks and one day) to the Edo State governorship election. Campaigns are in full swing and we have already implemented 10 out of the 13 activities listed in our timetable and schedule of activities for the election.

The most recent activity was the presentation to political parties of the final register of voters containing details of the 2,629,025 registered voters for the election. This was done on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, in our state office in Benin City.

“We are now left with three outstanding activities, namely the publication of Notice of Poll scheduled for Saturday, September 7, 2024, the last day of the campaign by political parties, which is Thursday, September 19, 2024, and, finally, the election day, which is Saturday, September 21, 2024,” the INEC chairman said.

We are once again hoping that the involved political parties wil abide by the laid down agreement in the peace accord to ensure a smooth electoral process.

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