Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto diocese, has revealed the potential consequence of any political candidate who fails to sign the peace accord, News About Nigeria reports.
The clergyman, who spoke in Benin City during the Edo Election Security Town Hall, said the failure of any political candidate to sign the peace accord sends a wrong signal to Nigerians.
Kukah, who is also the secretary of the committee, recounted that President Bola Tinubu did not sign a peace accord when he was a presidential candidate in 2023.
“I think it’s important to understand, you know, the National Peace Committee, what we do is not in the Electoral Act, it’s not law; it’s moral,” he said.
“You can’t compel people to fall in love or love their neighbour, you can’t exhort people to do so.
“But I think what is most important, first of all, if you go back to the 2019 elections, the presidential candidate for the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was not there to sign the Peace Accord. And, of course, the opposition went to town, which is really 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.
“But the most important thing is that, what happened in Edo people, we try the best we can to ensure that the people have any anxieties, if they have issues, and approach the peace committee, we try to deal with those issues.
“That’s why the IG was in, the IG is present, INEC is present, and as I said, it’s a pity, but we don’t, you know, we’re 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.”
