The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah, says the failure of political parties and their candidates to sign the Peace Accord to shun electoral violence sends a wrong signal to Nigerians.
Kukah, one of the conveners of the National Peace Committee headed by former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar, made this known on Sunday in Benin City during the Edo Election Security Townhall.
According to the clergyman, the committee can’t force any presidential candidate to sign the peace pact, which has become an electoral ritual in the last decade.
Kukah asserted that the failure of political parties and their candidates to sign the peace accord sends a wrong signal to Nigerians, which the opposition can easily exploit.
Though 17 political parties are fielding candidates in the September 21, 2024, Governorship Election in Edo State like the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP), among others, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) shunned the pre-election ritual last week over some allegations levelled against the police.
“The National Peace Committee, what we do is not in the Electoral Act, it’s not law; it’s moral. You can’t compel people to fall in love or love their neighbour.
“If you go back to the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate for the PDP, was not there to sign the Peace Accord. And of course, the opposition went to town, which is what it ought to be, and the next day, he (Atiku) turned up to sign.
“What is also very interesting is that the current president, when he was a presidential candidate, did not sign; it wasn’t our fault that the political opposition didn’t take advantage of it,” Kukah said.
“It’s a pity but we are not going to take anybody to court for not signing the Peace Accord. The only thing it does to you as a candidate is that it sends a wrong signal which can be very easily exploited by the opposition,” he added.
In September 2022, former Lagos governor and 2023 APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, did not sign the Peace Accord penned by his contenders. His then-running mate and ex-Borno governor Kashim Shettima represented him at the event.
