I’m ready to sign another peace accord with Buhari – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he is ready to sign another peace agreement with General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) to further demonstrate his commitment to violence-free elections.

Jonathan spoke at a closed-door meeting with a delegation of the National Committee on Peaceful Elections led by former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) on Wednesday.

The President said that he was ready to do that to convince Nigerians and the international community that he was truly, committed to free, fair and peaceful elections.

Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, in a statement after the meeting, said that Jonathan urged all political parties, their candidates and supporters to approach the elections with more patriotism and a greater willingness to place the larger interest of the country above personal ambitions.

“President Jonathan also said that he would be quite willing to meet and sign another peace accord with the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to further emphasise his total commitment to a violencefree polls on Saturday,” Abati stated.

The President said that the Federal Government had worked very hard, over the years, to promote strong democratic institutions that would sustain the country’s democracy and would not tolerate any form of violence, during or after the polls, that could reverse the gains of the present democratic dispensation in the country.

“My cardinal principle has always been, and still remains, that the ambition of any Nigerian is not worth the blood of anybody. I am not a violent person and I don’t tolerate violence in any form. I don’t believe that violence can be used to achieve anything meaningful in life.

“I am giving my total commitment to peaceful elections in the country, not because I am persuaded to do so, but because I believe in it,” Jonathan added.

The President called on religious and political leaders, community heads and other senior citizens in the country, to be vociferous in condemning electoral violence in the country, such as the pelting of opponents with stones and other objects.

Abubakar commended the President for his consistency in insisting on peaceful, free and fair elections in the country at all levels.

At another meeting with international election monitors, Jonathan assured them that the forthcoming elections would not generate the type of violence that followed the 2011 elections.

Justifying the postponement of the elections, he said in the last six weeks, the Nigerian Army had recaptured almost all the territories seized by the Boko Haram terrorists, adding that, latest, by Friday, (tomorrow), Gwoza in Borno State would also be captured.

He said “We believe by tomorrow (today) or latest Friday, we will be able to take over Gwoza. If we take over Gwoza, it will not take us more than one week to clean up. Now, Boko Haram is not in a position to disrupt elections,” he said.