Last week, the presidential contenders and others in the 2027 general election were engaged in the ritual known as National Peace Accord in Abuja even as the INEC declared campaigns open, but many citizens complain that the accord does not reflect in elections where the ruling party deploys all manner of shenanigans to achieve victory leaving other parties at the mercy of captured electoral umpire and the judiciary
By Udoka Ekeleme, Abuja
The National Peace Accord was signed on Tuesday, August 18, 2026 by presidential and National Assembly contenders in the 2027 general elections, but two major candidates for the presidency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu were absent, leaving only their representatives who stood in for them.
Political parties and presidential and National Assembly candidates signed the first National Peace Accord on issue-based campaigns ahead of the 2027 general elections. They pledge to shun violence, hate speech, misinformation, personal attacks and other conduct capable of undermining the electoral process.
The accord was signed in Abuja at a ceremony organised by the National Peace Committee in partnership with The Kukah Centre, barely 24 hours before the statutory commencement of public campaigns and rallies for the elections.
The event brought together the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Joash Amupitan; political party leaders; presidential candidates; National Assembly candidates; the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, and representatives of the diplomatic community, among other stakeholders.
Those who signed the accord included President Bola Tinubu, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume; the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi was in attendance to sign for his party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Adewole Adebayo and his African Action Congress (AAC) counterpart, Omoyele Sowore.
Other participants were the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof Nentawe Yilwatda; the presidential candidates of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and Labour Party (LP), Donald Duke, Chibuzor Okereke, the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin; the PRP National Chairman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed; federal and state lawmakers, party leaders and other candidates.
The event also featured goodwill messages from diplomatic representatives, including the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot, and the Ambassador of Switzerland to Nigeria, Patrick Egloff.
But some major contenders were missing in action. These include former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, were absent from the ceremony. Atiku is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), while Makinde is the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM).
The Chairman of the National Peace Committee, former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), was represented by a former Chief of Defence Staff, General Martin Agwai (retd.).
The ceremony was held against the backdrop of growing political activities ahead of the 2027 elections, with the economy, insecurity, unemployment, poverty, infrastructure deficits and the credibility of the electoral process and impartiality of the umpire, INEC expected to dominate the campaigns.
The INEC revised timetable stipulates that the presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on January 16, 2027, while the governorship and State House of Assembly elections have been scheduled for February 6, 2027.
Speaking at the event through his representative, President Tinubu urged political parties and candidates to place national interest above personal and partisan ambitions, warning that the struggle for political power must not become a do-or-die affair.
Tinubu warned political parties and their candidates against exploiting ethnic and religious sentiments to mobilise voters, insisting that the 2027 campaign should be based on competing ideas, policies and programmes.
According to Tinubu, “Signing this peace accord is a solemn pledge to the Nigerian people that we, as leaders, will put the nation’s interests above personal or partisan ambitions”.
“It is natural during campaigns to disagree as opponents and advocate competing governing missions for our country. We may exchange occasional political jabs, but as members of the same household, the same national family, we must never resort to divisive and primordial sentiments of ethnicity or religion as tools for seeking power”.
“Let us campaign on superior ideas. Let us debate issues and promote the best policies to expand opportunities for our people.
“Our party rejects violence, hate speech, the spread of misinformation, including through artificial intelligence, and all forms of incitement, especially via social media.
“We are committed to peaceful, transparent elections that will strengthen political stability, social harmony, economic progress, and our nation’s prosperity. I encourage other political parties and political actors to do the same.’’
Tinubu’s solemn address, as expected, has attracted questions such as, will the sitting president and his party allow INEC to conduct credible election in 2027? This question arose after Tinubu had told some visiting Catholic Bishops in Abuja recently that ‘All is fair in politics’. Commentators have since reflected on this saying as connected to what the president said before the 2023 presidential election. Then Tinubu had charged his supporters to ‘Grab it, snatch it and run away with it’ which resulted in the glitch of the INEC server in that year’s presidential election.
Another question that trailed Tinubu’s address at the peace accord is whether the ruling APC and its presential candidate, Tinubu would allow INEC to deploy the contentious IReV to upload results real-time. This question arose due to the delay by INEC to upload results of the just concluded governorship election in Osun State.
But the President cited the Permanent Voter Cards, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and electronic accreditation processes as measures that had strengthened confidence in the electoral system.
Chairman of the election umpire, Amupitan, described the signing ceremony as more than a symbolic gathering, and said it was an opportunity for political actors to define the ethical boundaries of the 2027 contest before the campaigns officially commenced.
Amupitan said, “Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 19, 2026, marks the statutory commencement of public campaigns and rallies for the 2027 general election.
“Before the first campaign flag is unfurled, before the first rally is staged, and before political rhetoric fills our public space, it is necessary that those who seek to lead this nation first gather to establish the ethical boundaries of their contest”.
The INEC chairman, however, stressed that technology and administrative preparedness alone could not guarantee peaceful elections, insisting that the conduct of political parties, candidates and their supporters remained critical.
“We provide the pitch and the refereeing, but the quality of the game depends on the players,” he said.
Chairman of the National Peace Committee, Abubakar, had facilitated 30 peace accords since 2015, comprising five national-level accords and 25 subnational agreements.
Abubakar said the issue-based peace accord was conceived in response to the increasing tendency of political campaigns to rely on sentiments, personal attacks and character assassination rather than manifestoes, policies and programmes.
Abubakar further noted that the accord was intended to encourage candidates and political parties to compete on ideas, debate opposing views respectfully, organise supporters peacefully, protect voters, respect electoral institutions and reject hate speech and misinformation.
The former head of state also disclosed that the National Peace Committee had established the Election Security Information Hub to monitor electoral offences and security developments and provide early warning and evidence-based analysis to stakeholders.
On his part, Obi observed that politicians should not need a peace accord before conducting themselves responsibly.
The former Anambra State governor argued that anyone seeking high public office should demonstrate exemplary conduct even before being elected.
“We don’t even need to sign this. We’re seeking an office where we should be exemplary. You can’t answer ‘His Excellency’ without being an excellent person,” Obi said.
Asked whether he still had faith in the peace accord in view of reports of violence during the recent Osun governorship election, Obi said his participation was driven by his desire to change the system from within.
“Because I want to change the process, I have to go through it, so I have to believe in it,” he said.
The AAC candidate, Sowore dismissed the peace accord as a ritual with little practical value.
Sowore said his participation should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the effectiveness of the process, arguing that previous accords had not prevented violence.
Sowore noted that, “I don’t have faith in it. I’m bringing faith to the system. Those are two different things,” he said.
He questioned the characterisation of the recent Osun governorship election as peaceful, alleging that about 50 people died in connection with the poll.
“How can you say, in good conscience, that an election that led to the death of 50 citizens of any country is a peaceful election?
“We are here in an election that involves less than two million people in Osun State. Fifty people had to die as a result of that, and you are calling it a peaceful election.”
Sowore also criticised INEC’s handling of the electronic transmission and uploading of results from the Osun election.
“As we speak, INEC is yet to complete the upload of all the election results three days after, If we are going to have free and fair elections, you can’t have it halfway. You have to upload all the polling units into your portal timeously. It must be completed before you announce election results.”
