By Caleb Ayansina

The National Peace Committee for 2015 General Elections, yesterday, said the elections will hold as rescheduled on March 28 and April 11. It added that the polls will be peaceful.

The assurance came after the committee’s meeting with the Chairman of INEC, Prof Attahiru Jega, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, and other relevant stakeholders in Abuja.

Other dignitaries at the meeting were a former Head of State, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar; the National Vice Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), North, Suhaibu Lawal; the National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh; the Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council, Dr Yunusa Tanko; the Senior Special Adviser to President on Interparty Affairs, Chief Ben Obi, among others.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, a member of the committee and former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Rose Ukeje, accompanied by the Chairman of Vanguard Media Limited, Mr Sam Amuka, insisted that the elections would hold and would be peaceful.

She said: ‘’IGP, INEC, the Chief of Defence Staff have all gave us assurance that elections will hold and they will be free, fair and credible and violence-free.”

Consequently, the committee has set up a special committee to liaise with political parties and other stakeholders.

Ukeje said the committee, to be chaired by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, has the Primate Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh; the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar; Archbishop , John Cardinal Onaiyekan and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah among others as members.

On the use of the Card Reader machine, the retired jurist maintained that the committee was satisfied with the explanation given to it by the INEC boss, Jega.

She added that the trial of the Card Reader Machine was on going in about 12 states of the federation, and, that according to Jega,”there was no failure anywhere.”

Ukeje told the two major political parties to prevail on their supporters as well as members to maintain an issue based political campaign.

Also, a member of the committee, Prof Osita O. Osita, who spoke at the briefing, said people misconstrued the use of the Card Reader as electronic voting, explaining that the Card Reader was just for the accreditation before voting.

Osita noted that the meeting with security chiefs showed that the role of the military in the incoming election was unambiguous.