President Muhammadu Buhari and former President Goodluck Jonathan have expressed worry over the rising spread of fake news and misinformation in the country.
They said the development had been compounded by “personal attacks, insults, and incitement” by political gladiators and parties.
Therefore, Buhari and Jonathan called on the 18 presidential candidates and their parties to be wary of the vices and make their campaigns issue-based.
The duo spoke during the signing of a peace accord by the presidential candidates at the ‘First National Peace Accord’ initiated by the National Peace Committee (NPC) in Abuja.
Buhari, in a video that was played by the Abubakar-led NPC during the event, told the candidates and parties that his signing of a peace accord with Jonathan contributed to peaceful elections in 2015.
Reiterating his administration’s commitment to fair and credible polls next year, the President commended members of the Abubakar-led NPC for “supporting peaceful elections and facilitating peace in the country.”
Jonathan also urged the presidential candidates and their parties to strive to make the electioneering season issue-based, clean and violent-free.
The candidates at the event were Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Vice-Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) Kashim Shettima; Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP); Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and 14 others.
