Political stakeholders in Sokoto state have reaffirmed their commitments toward a peaceful rerun election in the state.
The stated this during a town hall meeting organised by the National Peace Committee in Sokoto on Wednesday.
Representatives of the two major political parties, the All progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party signed an accord for peaceful polls during the meeting.
In their separate remarks, APC’s representative, Abubakar Yabo and that of PDP, Muhammad Dangogo expressed their parties’ willingness to support a peaceful process.
The Independent National Electoral Commission declared the March 9 election in Sokoto state as inconclusive and scheduled a rerun election on March 23.
In his address, Sultan of Sokoto Sa’ad Abubakar III, described the meeting as timely and capable of triggering a peaceful process.
Abubakar, represented by Prof. Sambo Junaidu, Wazirin Sokoto, urged politicians to always allow the will of God to prevail in electoral processes.
He said: “Power belongs to Almighty Allah, Allah gives power to who He wishes, we should know that violence can never be a source of accessing power.”
The monarch called on parties’ representatives at the meeting to work relentlessly towards ensuring peaceful election in the state.
“As a state, we can only make progress if there is peace and unity, without peace and unity we cannot grow. I charge all of you to remain committed towards maintaining the relative peace we have been known for.”
On his part, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Kukah, said: “It is only God that chooses a leader, and whenever we try to change the will of God, there must be consequences.
“We have to be careful with what we do during election periods; we must conduct ourselves in ways that will not destroy our society.”
INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Sokoto, Malam Abubakar Musa, restated the commission’s commitment towards a credible and successful poll.
Musa said that the March 9 election was moderately peaceful across the state, stating that it was irregularities in some areas that led to cancellation of the exercise.
He said: “As such we expect our politicians to be committed towards a credible process so that we will have a smooth rerun of election in the state. We will remain open to all political parties, ours is to always ensure free, fair and credible election.”
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