The Peoples Democratic Party has refused to sign the peace accord for the Edo State Governorship election scheduled for September 21.
Former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar announced this on Thursday at the venue of the signing of the peace accord in Benin.
While thanking those who signed the peace accord, he said, “As you must have seen in the media, I met the Governor (Godwin Obaseki) yesterday and he told me that the PDP is not going to sign this peace accord.
“They have made some observations and I was expecting the Chairman of the PDP to come and make that statement. Having waited for him this long, it is just to announce that the PDP said they are not going to sign.”
According to him, the PDP said it would only sign the peace accord if certain conditions are met.
The Chairman of the PDP in the state who was present at the venue did not explain why the party refused to sign the accord.
However, Governor Godwin Obaseki had said on Wednesday that his party, the PDP, might not sign the accord.
The governor said this when he met with members of the National Peace Committee led by former Head of State and elder statesman Abulsalami Abubakar.
He accused security operatives of favouring the All Progressives Congress, saying that the police had obtained warrants and arrested members of the PDP, essentially driving the leaders of the party into hiding.
“Until everybody (party members) arrested in Edo is released or brought back to Edo to be tried for whatever offences you claimed they have committed, we have no confidence that the police is going to protect us in this election,” Governor Obaseki said.
Also, on the same day, the Deputy Director General of the PDP campaign Don-Pedro Obaseki gave reasons why the party would not sign. He spoke during an appearance on Politics Today.
Although the PDP and its candidate for the election, Mr Asue Ighodalo, did not sign, other parties including the the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Mr Monday Okpebholo, signed the peace accord. The Labour Party and its candidate Mr Olumide Akpata signed as well.
Other parties who signed the accord are the Accord Party, Accord Alliance, African Action Congress, African Democratic Congress, Action Democratic Party.
Others include the All Progressives Congress (APC), the All Progressives Grand Alliance Grand Alliance Grand Alliance (APGA), the Allied Peoples Movement, Action Peoples Party, Labour Party, National Rescue Movement, Peoples Redemption Party, the Social Democratic Party, Youth Party, the Young Progressives Party (YPP) among others.
The National Peace Committee was founded in 2014 as a non-governmental organisation comprised of elder statesmen in the country to promote free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.
Over the past 10 years, the committee has worked to avoid the breakdown of law and order during election circles. A prominent feature of its activities is the peace accord signings by political parties and candidates ahead of elections.
General Abubakar is the Chairman, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (Retired) is the Vice Chairman and Bishop Mathew Kukah is the Convener. Members include the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad III, and Alhaji Aliko Dangote, among others.
