The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has explained why its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, did not attend the signing of the National Peace Accord, saying the decision was intended to protest what it described as the failure of the process to effectively respond to electoral violence.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, disclosed this on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
Abdullahi said the party deliberately stayed away from the ceremony because similar peace agreements had been signed during previous election cycles without, in its view, sufficient action when political violence occurred.
He argued that the National Peace Committee, which facilitates the accord, should do more than bring political candidates together to sign agreements ahead of elections.
“We’ve been signing this thing year in, year out; every election cycle, we sign in support of this commitment. Things still happen; people still get killed, harassed, like in the case of Osun, but we don’t hear the Peace Committee say anything,” Abdullahi said.
