The Peoples Democratic Party has commended its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan and that of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for signing the pact on non-violence ahead of the February 2015 general elections, saying that this is in line with the irrevocable commitment of the PDP to peace and progress of the nation at all times.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Olisa Metuh, in Abuja on Thursday, said the ruling party has already, in the last one week of campaigns, demonstrated its resolve for peaceful polls by ensuring that its members adhere strictly to its code of conduct on violence free polls.
He said, “It is timely therefore to urge the leadership of the APC to move beyond signing of the peace pact to genuinely taking practical steps to rein in members, especially, the horde of brigand thugs already on the loose in parts of the country, or be held responsible for any failure.
“With the completion of the APC’s campaign rallies in the South-East and South-South without slightest incidence of harassment or violence, the PDP has emphatically demonstrated its unflinching resolve for peaceful campaigns as well as ideological stricture to plurality of opinions and electoral choice even in areas considered its most impregnable fortes.
“We hence advise the APC to take a cue and urgently forestall plans by miscreants acting in its name to disrupt PDP campaign rallies in some parts of the North. APC must withdraw its violent prone membership from the red line”, the statement concluded.