Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto diocese, has claimed that President Bola Tinubu did not sign the peace accord during the 2023 presidential election.
Kukah spoke on Sunday, during the Edo election security town hall meeting in Benin.
“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,” the Catholic Bishop said.
The Catholic Bishop’s claim has gained a wide range of attention, with some Nigerians questioning the credibility of the claim.
PEACE ACCORDS IN NIGERIA
With several incidence preluding the 2015 election, the national peace committee (NPC) was established in 2014 to ensure peaceful and credible elections in the country.
The committee, headed by Abdulsalami Abubakar, a former head of state, has carried out several peace pacts for candidates vying for political offices at both state and federal levels.
On September 21, residents of Edo will be at the polls to cast their votes for their preferred candidates.
However, concerns have been raised over the peace and safety of voters, following the Peoples Democratic Party’s refusal to sign the peace accord.
The PDP had said the decision stemmed from its lack of faith in the police.
Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo, accused the police of working for the All Progressives Congress (APC), following the arrest of 10 PDP members whom he claimed were arrested without sufficient evidence or valid cases against them.
Reacting to PDP’s boycott of the peace accord in Edo, Kukah noted that it was not the first time a candidate would refuse to sign a peace pact.
VERIFYING THE CLAIM
TheCable reviewed the 2023 peace pact report by NPC and observed that two peace accords were signed at the national level, following violent outcome of previous elections in the country.
The first pact aimed at encouraging political parties and their candidates to streamline their goals with election campaign strategies as opposed to misinformation and hate speech. The candidates signed the pact on September 29, 2022.
The 2023 presidential candidates gathered at the International Conference Centre, Abuja to sign the peace pact for a free and credible election in the country.
Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP); Atiku Abubakar, PDP candidate; Rabiu Kwankwaso, flagbearer of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP); and Omoyele Sowore, standard bearer of the African Action Congress (AAC) were all present at the event, except Tinubu, who was said to be away in the United Kingdom.
He was, however, represented by Kashim Shettima, his running mate.
Other media platforms also reported the signing of the first peace pact in 2022, as seen here, here and here.
The second pact, signed on February 23, 2023, was for the candidates to accept the outcome of the election.
Tinubu was present at the signing of the second pact.
VERDICT
Based on the evidence, Kukah’s claim that Tinubu did not sign the 2023 election peace pact is incorrect.
