Bishop Matthew Hassan-Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto has stated that candidates cannot be compelled to sign a peace accord ahead of the 2024 Edo governorship election.
The peace accord, facilitated by the National Peace Committee led by former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, aims to prevent electoral violence.
However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) opted out of signing the pre-election peace accord, a practice that has become customary in the last decade.
During the Edo Election Security Townhall meeting in Benin City on Sunday, Bishop Kukah, a co-convener of the National Peace Committee, emphasized that the committee cannot force candidates to sign the accord.
He acknowledged that the PDP’s refusal to sign sent a negative message to Nigerians. Kukah also pointed out that Bola Tinubu had similarly declined to sign when he was a presidential candidate.
“The National Peace Committee, what we do is not in the Electoral Act, it is not a law. It is moral. You can’t compel people to love their neighbour.
“If you go back to the 2015 election, Atiku Abubakar the presidential candidate for the PDP, was not there to sign the Peace Accord. And the opposition went to town, which is what it ought to be, and the next day, Atiku turned up to sign.
“What is also very interesting is that the current president did not sign when he was a presidential candidate. it wasn’t our fault that the political opposition didn’t take advantage of it.
“It is a pity but we are not going to take anybody to court for not signing it. The only thing it does to you as a candidate is that it sends a wrong signal which can be exploited by the opposition,” Kukah stated.
