The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, has revealed that President Bola Tinubu did not sign the peace accord when he was a presidential candidate in 2023.
Kukah, a convener of the National Peace Committee led by former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar, shared this on Sunday during the Edo Election Security Townhall in Benin City.
He explained that the committee cannot compel any presidential candidate to sign the peace pact, which has become a symbolic electoral tradition over the past decade.
The clergyman emphasized that the failure of political parties and their candidates to sign the peace accord sends a negative message to Nigerians, something that opposition parties can easily exploit.
He said, “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 neighbor.”
Kukah recalled a similar instance from the 2019 election when PDP’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, initially missed the peace accord signing. However, after public outcry, Atiku appeared the following day 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,” Kukah noted.
While acknowledging the importance of the peace accord, Kukah clarified that not signing it doesn’t lead to legal consequences, though it may create an exploitable perception problem.
