APC seeks pact with PDP on violence-free election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has canvassed for a meeting of the leaders of the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party to agree on how to stem the rising cases of violence ahead of next month's polls.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said such a meeting will send a powerful message of zero tolerance for violence to the supporters of both parties as well as other parties and indeed the entire people of Nigeria and serve to douse the tension that is building up ahead of the election.

It said the call is a follow-up to the practical steps that have been taken by the party (APC), dating as far back as May 2014, when it first wrote to the leadership of the PDP calling for such a meeting.

''Following up on a meeting of representatives of both parties in Washington, DC, US, April 7-8 2014 under the auspices of the CSIS Nigeria Election Forum, at which it was agreed that a joint meeting of both parties be convened to discuss and agree on the crucial issue of a Code of Conduct for the campaigns and the elections, we wrote a letter to the PDP suggesting a bipartisan meeting to address the issue."

Credit: Onyebuchi Ezigbo/ThisDay