The meeting, held behind closed doors at Enugu Hall in Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, on Tuesday, will be followed by another with the chairmen of all 91 resgistered political parties.
Ahead of the Osun State rerun election slated for Thursday, September 27, 2018, Abdusalam Abubakar, former Head of State and members of the Peace Committee, have met with Professor Mahmood Abubakar, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The meeting, held behind closed doors at Enugu Hall in Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, on Tuesday, will be followed by another with the chairmen of all 91 resgistered political parties.
Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, Chairman of the Peace Committee, Abdulsalam Abubakar, said the committee decided to interact with the stakeholders following the happenings after the announcement that declared the elections inconclusive.
On Sunday, Professor Joseph Fuwape, the INEC Returning Officer, had declared the election inconclusive on the premise that since the difference between the two leading parties was just 353 votes but the number of cancelled votes was 3,498, no winner had emerged. [story_link align="left"]63215[/story_link]
However, Abdusalam said the essence of the meeting is to ensure that all stakeholders play by the rules for peace to reign in the country.
He said: "We are all aware that we are approaching the 2019 election and already you are very much aware how the polity is being heated as a result of which we have decided to step in to ensure that there is peace in the country and that the politicians play by the rules of the game, and also for security agencies and INEC to play their roles accordingly.
"This morning, we have interacted with the INEC chairman and his staff and also the security agencies here who have got one role or the other to perform in this election.
"All in all, we have had a briefing and later this afternoon, we are going to meet the political parties and the chairmen of the 91 registered political parties in furtherance of ensuring that there is peace. We are going to listen to them, hear their complaints and also appeal to them to make sure that politics is played without bitterness.
"As you are very much aware if there is no peace in any country, there would be no country at all. So, the essence of this meeting is to ensure that we are all on the same wavelength."
Also at the meeting were Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah; Former Vice-President Ebitu Ukiwe and Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Archbishop Nicholas Okoh.
The election was declared inconclusive when the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke scored 254,698 votes to beat the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 254,345 votes.
The rerun election will hold in seven polling units in Orolu, Ife South, Ife North and Osogbo Local Government Areas.