Matthew Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, says there should be penalties for inciting electoral violence.
Speaking in an interview on Channels TV on Friday on the signing of a peace accord by the presidential candidates of the 2023 general election, the bishop said there should be punishment for anyone who goes against the elements of the law as regards the elections.
Kukah said the peace accord is important to ensure peace and security before and after the elections.
“This is a country where people don’t take the laws seriously, whether the constitution or whatever. Our responsibility is to ensure that the actors in the long run, can suffer penalties,” he said.
“These penalties should include, by a clear commitment, that the things you signed for cooperate with the civil society, to obey the law, to make sure that you don’t incite violence.
“And I am hopeful that going forward, if we have a tribunal or if we have a commission dealing with electoral offences, and it is possible that people will begin to suffer penalties; where you could have your presidential ticket taken away from you; where you could have your gubernatorial ticket taken away from you because you did not play according to the rules of the game.
“That’s where we should be heading to because our people have absolutely no commitment for the respect of the rule of law. What we’ve in Nigeria isn’t rule of law, it’s rule of men.”
Presidential candidates on Thursday signed a peace accord in Abuja.
The accord was broker by the National Peace Committee (NPC) of which Kukah is a member.
