THE chairman of Sierra Leone’s Political Parties Regulations Commission (PPRC), Abdulai Bangura, has told the nation’s politicians to take the example of peace set by the presidential candidate of Nigeria’s Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi in the polls held on Saturday in the country.
At a press conference on Sunday, addressed by the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), the Office of National Security (ONS) and the PPRC in Freetown Bangura initiated that Obi’s choice of peaceful resolution of the Nigerian election should be emulated by politicians in Sierra Leone.
As Sierra Leoneans await the results of the election, Bangura challenged politicians to conduct themselves peacefully regardless of the results.
“I have always referred to Peter Obi when he lost (the) election; we all know the promise he held when the elections were being conducted,” he said.
“Almost everybody who is anything in Nigeria (threw their) support. But when the results came out otherwise, he didn’t call his supporters to the street to wreak havoc. He took the legal path and by that way, he was able to save his country from chaos.
“So we will encourage all of our politicians to learn from that example. Leadership is about self-restraint, and leadership is about selflessness. So we expect that our politicians will demonstrate this. The process has been peaceful so far so let us continue to be peaceful and promote the interest of our country.”
Of the thirteen political parties contesting the presidential election, pundits see it more as a contest between the incumbent president and candidate of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Julius Bio, and Samura Kamara of the All Peoples Congress (APC).
