The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah, says the failure of political parties and their candidates to sign the Peace Accord to shun electoral violence sends a wrong signal to Nigerians.
He stated this Sunday in Benin City, during the Edo Election Security Townhall, a programme organised by Channels Television in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative and the UK International Development.
in his words, “If you go back to 2015 Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was the presidential candidate for the PDP and was not there to sign the Peace Accord and he turned up at the Kukah center the next day to sign.
“What is also interesting is that the current president Bola Tinubu who’s was a presidential candidate did not sign. It was our fault that political opposition didn’t take advantage of it”.
Though 17 political parties are fielding candidates in the September 21, 2024, Governorship Election in Edo State like the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP), among others, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) declined the pre-election ritual last week over some allegations levelled against the police.
Recall that The Edo State chapter PDP pulled out of the National Peace Accord for the September 21 governorship election because of alleged bias by the police.
State chairmen and candidates 17 participating political parties signed the peace accord while chairman of the PDP, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, and the party’s candidate, Asue Ighodalo, although present, declined to sign.