Matthew Hassan-Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese, expressed regret at the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) refusal to sign the peace agreement prior to the Edo State governorship race.
However, Kukah asserted that the party could not be forced to sign the peace deal by the peace accord committee. He stated that President Bola Tinubu, who declined to sign the agreement in 2022, may have served as an example for the PDP.
Kukah also mentioned the committee’s moral duties.
He issued a warning, stating that Nigerians and the world community were receiving the wrong signals from political parties and their candidates when they failed to openly show their support for a peaceful election process in the nation.
Speaking at the Edo Election Security Town Hall in the state capital of Benin City, Kukah bemoaned the PDP’s decision to act on Tinubu’s shoddy script prior to the February 2023 presidential election.
It has been the nation’s electoral ritual for the past ten years, but he acknowledged that the National Peace Accord Committee (NPAC) was in no position to force candidates or parties to sign the peace treaty.
Channels Television, in partnership with UK International Development and the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), organised the town hall program.
“It’s unfortunate, but we will not prosecute anyone for refusing to sign the Peace Accord,” Kukah said. As a candidate, all it accomplishes is give the erroneous impression, which the opposition can easily take advantage of.
“What we do at the National Peace Committee is moral, not legally mandated by the Electoral Act. People cannot be forced to love their neighbour or fall in love.
“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 was referring to the September 2022 forum where the former Lagos State governor and then APC presidential candidate in the 2023 poll, Tinubu, failed to sign the Peace Accord endorsed by other candidates in the race.
But the current vice president and Tinubu’s then running mate, Kashim Shettima, showed up at the event to represent him.