The Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Prof Chidi Odinkalu has said that leading parties that signed the popular Abuja peace accord have not leaved up to the bidding of the accord.
Odinkalu expressed worries over the hate speech and mudslinging that permeated the political space adding that none of the political parties had convincingly communicated its plans for the nations. He argued that was no need for accord to be signed as Nigeria’s extant laws had already stipulated how candidates should conduct themselves during electioneering campaign.
The NHRC boss said this in an interview The Complete News in Lagos recently.
His words, “The Peace Accord has failed. The parties to the peace accord have not shown fidelity to the accord. Have you seen the copy of the accord before?
“ If the parties had desired for that accord to be respected and be the basis for the campaign, the first thing they would have done is to mass produce copies for their supporters , media and everybody making sure everybody gets a copy so that they can hold them accountable. They didn’t do that’.
The peace accord does not super cede the Nigerian laws. Whatever it says, the elections only run on our laws. There is nothing in the peace accord that we don’t have in our laws –the criminal code, the penal code, the criminal procedure Act, the envidence Act, the electoral Act, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“All these laws have outlined our things should be run. We can summarized the peace accord in one sentence – We will conduct of ourselves and campaign in accordance with the laws of Nigeria. The campaign so far are bereft of ideas and bereft of respect for the intelligence of the people. In my views I don’t think they are serious about the peace accord”.
