Former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, Senator Ben Ndi Obi, has described inter-party collaboration as an essential ingredient that facilitates harmonious relationship between political parties.

He also noted that the decision of former President Jonathan and incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari to abide by the agreements of the Abuja Peace Accord was responsible for the peace being witnessed in the polity.

The former presidential aide made the assertions during a one-day stakeholders’ talkshop organised by the Anambra State chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), at GeoGold Hotel, Awka, and themed Anambra Beyond Politics.

He noted that “the violence that marred the inconclusive election in Bayelsa State, was largely caused by the failure to conduct the usual sensitisation workshop where stakeholders, including the top gladiators are gathered and engage to commit to peace and orderliness before, during and after the polls.”

While recalling how his former office conducted election sensitisation workshops for key political stakeholders in the staggered governorship elections held in Edo, Anambra, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun States, Senator Obi added that those workshops and stakeholders’ summit helped to make the outcome acceptable without any threat of violence or protest from any quarter.

“However, the successes we recorded in various workshops, including the landmark “Abuja Peace Accord’ would not have been possible without the collaboration and participation of the inter-party advisory council at the national level. There is need for the special adviser to the governor on inter-party affairs to be in a position to interact with the state IPAC for effective collaboration with other political parties in the state,” he added.

Obi expressed the belief that “when we get our politics right, the development of the state will be rapid,” even as he urged all stakeholders to eschew politics of bitterness, rancour and violence, and ensure that “we live up to the motto of our state as truly Light of the Nation.”

Earlier in their remarks, the chairman of the occasion, Nze Akachukwu Nwankpo and Chairman, Anambra IPAC, Mr. Sam Oraegbunam, noted the deleterious influence of politics on governance in the state, noting that after elections, governance should take over in the interest of development and social progress.