The catholic bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has urged all the candidates of the February 25 presidential election to adhere to the terms of the National Peace accord that was signed before the presidential elections.
The Editor Nigeria recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission Declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (8,794,726 votes), defeated Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (6,984,520 votes) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (over 6,101,000 votes).
Less than five days after the election, both Peter Obi and Atiku refused to accept defeat in the February 25 presidential election and pledged to challenge the outcome of the election in court.
The two candidates rejected an olive branch from the newly elected president, in separate news conferences on Thursday in Abuja.
In an interview with Arise Television on Friday, Kukah noted that the major candidates deserve commendation for how they have behaved themselves after the election. He however stressed that they must continue to follow the terms of the Peace Accord.
He said, “As a convener of the National Peace Committee, we watched diligently to see that the principles enunciated in the signing of the Peace Accord are implemented.
“Let me commend the key political actors because, despite where we find ourselves now, on balance Nigerians must agree that the presidential candidates did conduct themselves in a manner and in a way that brought a lot of respect to politics and the political processes.
“They deserve our commendation because we didn’t experience the usual recriminations and so on.”
