In the past sixteen years of our uninterrupted democracy, we have held periodic elections with some degree of disturbances, however the forth-coming 2015 elections seems to have produced an unusual atmosphere of palpable tension and fear across the country to the extend that the disintegration of the country is now being prophesized by not quite a few, both within and outside Nigeria. The reason f
or this is not far-fetched; it is because of the vicious nature of politicking, the combative and bellicose language being used by political parties and candidates against each other, all in the midst of an unprecedented wave of terrorism that has been witnessed before in the history of our nation. In response to this therefore, and as a way of restoring confidence in the Nigerian people that the 2015 election will not lead to the end of Nigeria, the office of the Special Adviser to the President (Inter-Party affairs), in collaboration with the office of the National Security Adviser to the President, began since June 2014, series of consultations and engagements aimed at bringing the entire political class together to do a reappraisal of the consequences of their actions, utterances and conduct on the social cohesion, political stability and national security of the country; and to hence commit to peaceful, mature and patriotic conduct in their quest for political power. These engagements resulted in the all-political parties summit that was held in Abuja on June 12, 2014, and subsequently the national sensitization workshop on non-violence held on January 14 2015 in Abuja during which all the Presidential Candidates and their respective political parties signed a political agreement committing themselves and their parties to non-violence and peaceful elections in 2015, in what has become known throughout Nigeria and globally as the "ABUJA ACCORD". The National Peace Committee has the responsibility of interfacing with all political stakeholders in the elections including international election observers, monitor the campaigns, the operational as well as the post electoral phases of the election process, with the view to ensuring that the commitment of the political parties and candidates as made in the Abuja Accord are kept. In any event of violation, it will be the responsibility of this eminent Committee to deploy its Goodwill and consultations to call the erring party to order. Also, this committee is envisaged to play a key role in mediating and resolving post-electoral conflicts if they occur, before they reach the level of crises.
