President Bola Tinubu and other presidential candidates gathered in Abuja on Tuesday to sign the first National Peace Accord ahead of the 2027 general elections, committing themselves and their parties to peaceful, issue-based campaigning as official electioneering commenced on Wednesday, August 19.
The accord, organised by the National Peace Committee in partnership with The Kukah Centre, binds political parties, presidential candidates and their supporters to respect electoral institutions, reject violence and hate speech, and steer clear of misinformation, including AI-generated misinformation, and ethnic or religious incitement during the campaign season.
President Tinubu did not attend in person and was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, who signed alongside the All Progressives Congress National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda. Nigeria Democratic Congress candidate Peter Obi and African Action Congress candidate Omoyele Sowore were present and signed the accord themselves, alongside Social Democratic Party candidate Adewole Adebayo and leaders of several other parties, including the Labour Party, National Rescue Movement, Youth Party and Zenith Labour Party, among others.
Notably absent from the ceremony were African Democratic Congress candidate Atiku Abubakar and his party, a development that drew attention given the scale of the gathering.
Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, who attended the event, described the signing as coming at a defining moment in the electoral calendar, taking place just a day before the formal commencement of campaigns for the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections.
Speaking on behalf of President Tinubu, Akume reaffirmed the APC's commitment to peaceful and transparent elections, crediting improvements in Nigeria's electoral process to technology such as permanent voter cards and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System. He also pointed to the governorship elections held in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states as evidence of progress in the country's democratic process.
For his part, Peter Obi urged Nigerians to hold accountable any candidate who violates the accord by rejecting them at the polls, stressing the importance of an election where votes genuinely count.
The National Peace Committee, chaired by former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has coordinated peace-building efforts around Nigerian elections since 2014. Organisers noted that a second phase of the initiative will follow the 2027 elections, focused on encouraging acceptance of results and reinforcing long-term democratic stability.
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