President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), have assured Nigerians that they would accept the outcome of a free, fair and credible presidential election even as they called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and security agencies to abide strictly by their professional roles.
Disclosing this after rising from a private meeting attended by both candidates, Jonathan and Buhari requested all Nigerians and “our party supporters, to refrain from violence or any acts that may in any way jeopardise our collective vision of a free, fair and credible election.”
Full text of the joint statement reads thus:
“You may recall that on 14th January 2015, both of us, long with nine other party leaders signed what has now come to be known as the Abuja Accord. The substance of that Accord was our commitment to free, fair and credible elections in our dear country.
“In the Accord, we agreed to, among other things, run an issue-based campaign and pledged that our electoral campaigns will not involve any religious incitement, ethnic or tribal profiling, both by ourselves and all agents acting in our names.
“Now that the campaigns have come to an end, we meet today to renew our pledge for peaceful elections. We therefore call on all fellow citizens of our dear country, and our party supporters, to refrain from violence or any acts that may in any way jeopardise our collective vision of a free, fair and credible election.
“In addition, we call on INEC and all security agencies to ensure strict adherence to their constitutional roles. We also pledge to respect the outcome of free, fair and credible elections.
“Today, we again renew our commitment to a united, democratic and prosperous Nigeria. We want all Nigerians to stand together at this critical phase of our nation’s history.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. God bless you all.
Signed by Jonathan, Buhari and Abdusalami Abubakar.
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