The National Peace Committee, headed by former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar, explained why it did not punish candidates and political parties who violated the peace pact made before the 2023 general elections.
The NPC faced criticism for not taking action after reported conflicts, intimidations, and alleged vote-buying, particularly during the February 25 presidential election where Bola Tinubu was declared the winner.
In response to the criticism, NPC's Head of Secretariat and Executive Director of The Kukah Centre, Revd Fr Atta Barkindo, explained that the national peace committee does not have the legal authority to arrest or prosecute politicians.
Speaking at the public presentation of a preliminary evaluation report on support to the NPC through The Kukah Centre on Wednesday, Barkindo stated that it was the responsibility of the police and other legally established security agencies to pursue violators of the peace agreement.
He said, “What people don’t understand is that the NPC as a peace committee doesn’t have the legal power to arrest or prosecute anybody.
“All the agencies established by law are available to do all that. What we are adding is a moral intervention where these institutions have failed. So what we do is once we sign an accord and it is violated, there are institutions we hand them (erring politicians) over to.
“Even without the NPC handing them over, people can clearly see what is happening. Let the police and those who are constituted by law get up and do their job.
“We are simply adding value, and I don’t want people to place too much expectation on the National Peace Committee to go beyond its mandate. But beyond the signing of the peace accord, when you assemble presidential candidates two days to an election and they are all over the media, they can actually publicly recommit themselves to the process.
“For me, that is adding value to the entire electoral costs and that is what we bring to the table because it helps to douse the tension, reduce the level of bitterness and helps citizens to hold these people to account especially, when they publicly declare that they will accept the outcome of the vote as long as it is free, fair and credible.
“And to be honest, people are following the terms of the accord because at the end of the day, when the results were announced, there was no widespread violence. People went to court, and that was what the accord said.
“If you’re aggrieved, go to court. Some people were aggrieved, and they actually went to court. So as far as we are concerned, the terms of the accord have been really complied with. The rest of the issues of violence, there are agencies constituted by law to address that. I think they should just get up and do their job.”