The Senior Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, said the accusation that President Tinubu refused to sign the Peace Accord was false.
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Dioceses and the Co-Chairman of the National Peace Committee, Bishop Matthew Kukah, while speaking at the Edo Election Security Townhall on Sunday, in Benin, stated that political parties and candidates cannot be forced to sign the Peace Accord.
“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 neighbour.
“If you go back to the 2019 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate for the PDP, was not there to sign the Peace Accord. And of course, the opposition went to town, which is 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.
“It’s a pity but we are 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,” Naija News reported.
However, Onanuga, in a statement, on Tuesday, explained that the President was represented by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima.
“Contrary to the claims by Bishop Kukah, President Tinubu signed the two peace accords preceding his election in 2023. The first accord, committing the candidates to a free and credible election in the country, was signed on September 29, 2022. Vice President Kashim Shettima represented Tinubu.
“The second agreement, signed on February 23, 2023, was for the candidates to accept the election outcome. Tinubu signed,” Onanuga wrote on his X handle.