Bishop Matthew Hassan-Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto has criticized the failure of political parties and their candidates to sign the Peace Accord aimed at preventing electoral violence, describing it as a troubling signal to Nigerians.
He made this statement on Sunday in Benin City during the Edo Election Security Townhall, a program organized by Channels Television in collaboration with the Kimpact Development Initiative and the UK International Development.
Despite 17 political parties, including the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP), fielding candidates for the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not participate in the Peace Accord signing last week due to allegations against the police.
Kukah, a member of the National Peace Committee led by former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar, noted that the committee cannot compel any candidate to sign the peace pact, which has become a standard practice in elections over the past decade.
“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 2015 election, Alhaji 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, Bola Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos and APC’s presidential candidate for 2023, did not sign the Peace Accord with his rivals. Instead, his running mate and former Borno governor, Kashim Shettima, was reported to have represented him.
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