Bishop Matthew Hassan-Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto and co-convener of the National Peace Committee has revealed that President Bola Tinubu did not sign a peace accord during his presidential campaign.
Speaking at the Edo Election Security Townhall in Benin City, Kukah said the committee cannot force candidates to sign the peace pact.
He was reacting to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) refusal to sign the peace pact over some allegations levelled against the police.
Kukah said the committee headed by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, can’t force any candidate to sign the peace pact, which has become an electoral ritual in the last decade.
His words: “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.
“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.”
The article was originally published on Politics Nigeria.
