Kaduna State Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, says if the police and INEC can stand up to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ensure that election are free, fair and credible, the country will have peace.

“If the police and INEC can stand up to the PDP and ensure that election are free, fair and credible, we will have peace,” he said yesterday in an interview with newsmen shortly after a closed-door meeting with the State Commissioner of Police, Umar Shehu Ambursa, and candidates of all political parties and stakeholders in the state.

The former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister said the reason why Nigeria experiences election violence is because the ruling party knows how to steal the vote rather than get work hard to get voted into power.

He said: “We have discussed and it is not whether I am satisfied or not, it is what action is taken later. I have made it very clear in my remarks that the police and INEC knows what to do to ensure that we have credible election and they should just have the will to do it.

“I always preach that our supporters should be peaceful and they should conduct themselves in accordance with the law because we know we can win if the election is free, fair and credible.” On his part, Governor Mukhtar Yero, candidate of PDP, told newsmen: “As a government, we felt that we should not allow people of Kaduna State to suffer just because of the ambition of some people.

“That is why the CP organised this meeting with all the candidates, from governorship down to the state assembly so that everybody will give his commitment that we are going to have a violence-free campaign and also a violence-free election.”

Yero added: “We have witnessed what happened in 2011 and we do not want to have a repeat.

“As a government, we are not going to accept any life to be lost just because somebody wants to be a leader or just somebody wants to be somebody. All lives are the same and no body’s life is superior to the other.”

In his opening address, CP Ambursa said political propaganda, voter education activities, political meetings and rallies and partisan organisations are all common elements of the electoral process and each must operate without unreasonable interferences for the conduct of the election to be free.

“It is to be noted also that political parties should respect the rule of law and rights of individuals and should be to hold candidates and supporters responsible in case of violence,” he said.

“It is noteworthy also that, the do-or-die attitudes of some politicians to win elections at all cost, that always trigger the electorates to resort to violence.”

•Photo shows El-Rufai.

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