The Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy, has described the silence of National Peace Committee (NPC) as deafening in spite of the avalanche of election petitions and likely far-reaching outcomes that could follow the decisions.
The Centre stated that the NPC, led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), had, prior to the 2023 elections, engaged political leaders on the need for a peaceful and credible election.
The NPC said it was inundated by requests to intervene in the 2023 presidential elections by halting the vote count or cancelling the election entirely.
The NPC chair, former Head of State AbdulSalami Abubakar, stated this during the presentation of the NPC’s 106-page report on the 2023 general election, which held in Abuja on Friday, and was titled: “Nigeria’s Pursuit of Electoral Compliance: National Peace Committee NPC 2023 General Elections Report”.
AbdulSalami said the committee faced covert attempts by certain individuals and groups to exert influence over the electoral process.
”As the election day progressed, criticisms and counter criticisms became abundant. The NPC was already being faced with a flurry of phone calls and the need to call INEC to order. The Peace Committee was flooded with requests for intervention”, the report reads.
“Both the Chairman of the Committee, General Abdulsalami A. Abubakar, the Convener, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and the Head of NPC Secretariat, Fr. Atta Barkindo, were inundated with calls, requests, and petitions demanding the intervention of the NPC.
“Some of the requests wanted the NPC to prevail on INEC to stop collating election results because there were gross violations and lack of compliance with the Electoral Act. Others demanded that the tenets of the Peace Accord signed were not adhered to and therefore the Committee should call for cancellation of the election entirely.
“The most significant call was related to the 25% threshold for Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory. Some of the analysts who reached out to the committee asked that the final election result should not be announced because the resumptive president-elect did not score the required 25% as stated in the electoral act. If anything, there should be a runoff”.
Members of the NPC include notable figures such as Ebitu Ukiwe (Vice Chairman), Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (Convener), Sultan of Sokoto Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola, among other notable Nigerians.
The report said the Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy, a civil society organisation (CSO), criticized the NPC for its silence following the election, despite the numerous petitions and potential consequences. The centre said that while the NPC had encouraged peaceful elections beforehand, it failed to issue a formal statement after the election to address the outcome and prevent potential violence.
Responding to the criticisms, the report explained that the NPC’s role was purely moral and not constitutional.
“The NPC has no mandate to arrest violators of process or interfere with the constitutional duties of INEC. It is set up to provide moral intervention, defined by mediation and moral persuasion to ensure that there is peace”, it stated.
