Edo Guber: PDP candidate declines to sign peace accord
Tamarauemi Ebimini
Seventeen out of 18 political parties contesting the Sept 21 Edo governorship election have signed a peace accord ahead of the election.
Chairman Of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Anthony Aziegbemi and the party’s candidate, Asue Ighodalo, who were present during the signing of the peace accord, declined to sign.
Aziegbemi told newsmen that they were declining because 10 members of the party were currently being detained by the police in Abuja.
He said: “We are here to register our protest before the peace committee and to say that the PDP will not sign peace accord when 10 of our members have been arrested and detained by the police in Abuja.”
It would be recalled that the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on Wednesday during the stakeholders meeting, said he was not aware that PDP members were arrested in the state.
The signing of the peace accord is coming barely nine days to the governorship election in the state.
The Convener of the National Peace Committee, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, charged the candidates to see peace as a foundation for credible election.
Kukah said that the task before the committee was to support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure a peaceful election devoid of violence.
Kukah urged Edo people to go out and cast their votes, saying that Edo should count themselves lucky having produced top politicians in Nigeria.
In his welcome remarks, the Chairman, National Peace Committee, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, said the ceremony was a commitment to uphold the peace, unity, and democratic values of the nation.
Abubakar noted that since the committee formation in 2014, it had worked tirelessly to foster an environment where every Nigerian could exercise their constitutional right to vote without fear of violence or intimidation.
He appealed to candidates, parties and their supporters to remember that peace was the foundation upon which progress and development was built and established.
Also speaking, the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, assured that INEC would continue to play its part in line with the electoral laws.
Yakubu thanked the Peace committee for bringing the political parties and their candidates together to agree to a peaceful election.
