It was a mistake that Tinubu did not attend Peace Accord signing—Adebayo, SDP presidential candidate

By Olalekan Bilesanmi

The 2027 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, says genuine peace in Nigeria’s electoral process can only be achieved when there is justice, transparency and strict adherence to the law. According to Adebayo, who spoke in an interview following the signing of the 2027 Electoral Peace Accord, political parties and candidates should not regard the agreement as a favour to the country, but as a commitment to conduct themselves in accordance with the law. He criticises President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for failing to personally attend the peace accord ceremony, describing the president’s absence as a wrong signal to Nigerians and law enforcement agencies. Adebayo also calls for greater independence for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), insisting that the police, Department of State Services (DSS), civil defence and military should remain politically neutral during elections. Below are excerpts from the interview:

You signed the peace accord. What exactly did you commit to?

Basically, what I committed to is what the law says: elections must be based on issues. We have always campaigned on issues. We do not attack personalities, and we do not campaign against identities. We do not use identity to campaign. There is no issue of religion, ethnicity and all of that. We totally avoid hate speech, and we don’t use bad language. We don’t use fake news. We don’t use false propaganda, and we try as much as possible to comply with the Electoral Act in terms of how to conduct rallies. We totally avoid violence. We don’t use thugs. We don’t pay thugs. We don’t buy votes, and we don’t sell votes. We don’t do money politics. We respect the office that we are running for, and we conduct ourselves as if we have already taken the oath of office for that position.