The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah, has said the national peace committee can’t force politicians to sign peace accords.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the signing of peace accords has become a ritual in Nigeria’s political space since the 2015 general elections.
Speaking at a town hall meeting organised by Channels TV on Sunday ahead of the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, Mr Kukah noted that failure of political parties and their candidates to sign the peace sends a wrong signal to Nigerians.
The Bishop’s comment was in reaction to the boycott of the peace accord by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate Asue Ighodalo over allegations of bias against the police.
Mr Kukah, one of the conveners of the National Peace Committee headed by former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, said the committee doesn’t have the constitutional power to compel anybody to sign the pact.
“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,” Mr 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.
The cleric also appealed to the voters in Edo State to shun violence and embrace before, during, and after the election.
“Let’s vote to stay alive. Let’s hope and pray that nobody will lose his life.
“Our hope and prayer is that democracy will continue to offer us the opportunities that it has promised and that Nigerians will sign on to a peaceful country, a democratic process,” he added.
