Fourteen political parties participating in Bakura State House of Assembly by-election in Zamfara, on Thursday signed a peace accord ahead of the poll billed for Dec. 5.
The event took place in Bakura town, headquarters of Bakura Local Government Area of the state.
The ceremony which was presided by the Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Usman Nagogo, had all heads of security agencies in the state in attendance.
Dr Asma’u Maikudi, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, also attended the event.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Rescue Movement (NRM) were among the parties that signed the peace accord.
Other political parties involved in the peace pact included Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressives Grant Alliance (APGA) and Action Alliance (AA), among others.
Nagogo commended political parties in the state for conducting themselves in a peaceful manner during their primaries and campaigns.
“The conduct of political parties is encouraging, we commend the leadership of both political parties, we hope this responsible attitude will continue up to end of the election.
“As I said yesterday at the heads of security agencies in the state meeting on this election, we are highly ready to provide adequate security before, during and after the polls.
“All security agencies have resolved to be apolitical, we are going to maintain our constitutional role to ensure protection of lives and property, we are here to sign an undertaking for the election to be conducted peacefully,” he said.
He warned that anyone that flouted the law would be punished.
On her part, Maikudi thanked all stakeholders for cooperating with the commission in preparation for the conduct of the by-election.
The resident INEC commissioner who promised to conduct credible election, sassured that the electoral umpire was fully prepared for the exercise.
“We have already got our non-sensitive materials here and will bring in the sensitive materials very soon. As the CP said, the conduct of political party leaders and stakeholders is commendable.
“I urge Bakura constituents to be calm and support the commission to conduct free, fair and credible election; let us replicate conduct at the 2019 general elections in this state,” she urged.
Maikudi also commended political parties for conducting peaceful primaries and campaigns, and promised them fairness. (NAN)