There were worrying signs of indifference and potential disruptions to the peaceful conduct of the September 21 governorship election yesterday. This came as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, declined to sign a peace accord presided over by former military head of state, General Abdulsalam Abubakar (rtd). The party, according to Abubakar, said it would sign its portion of the accord in Abuja if its conditions are met.  
   
However, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which had previously said it might not sign the peace deal, and 15 other parties, eventually consented.  The APC had initially threatened to boycott the peace meeting unless the security agencies apprehended the individual responsible for the death of Inspector Akor Anuh, one of the security personnel assigned to the party’s governorship candidate, Monday Okpebholo.
  
Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki had indicated on Wednesday that the PDP would not sign the accord because party leaders were arrested and taken to Abuja on false charges.  He accused the police of bias, saying they were working against the interests of the PDP and in favour of the APC. 
  
 The peace pact aims to prevent candidates and political parties from making public statements, pronouncements, declarations, or speeches that could provoke violence, especially those involving religious, ethnic, or tribal tensions before, during, and after elections.  
  
 The agreement also prohibits government institutions such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies from taking actions that could encourage electoral violence.
   
The state chairman of PDP, Dr Tony Aziegbemi, and its governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, attended the peace meeting yesterday, where they presented copies of petitions outlining their grievances against the police.
   
Aziegbemi insisted that before considering signing the accord, the PDP members and chieftains who have been illegally arrested by the police and taken to secret holding centers in Abuja should be immediately and unconditionally released or charged in a court of competent jurisdiction.
   
He also alleged that the police have been one-sided in their preparations for the election and introduced new disturbing elements, indicating bias in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Aziegbemi expressed reluctance to enter a peace accord with an umpire who has shown bias and waged war against the PDP.
   
The PDP called for: “The immediate and unconditional release/production of all persons currently in unlawful custody. All such persons, if alleged to have committed any crime, should be immediately brought before a court of competent jurisdiction in compliance with all civilised constitutional processes.
   
“The immediate redeployment of the current Edo State Commissioner of Police and the current Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). They should be replaced with persons who can exhibit fairness and balance in the performance of their functions and who do not have links to the contending parties or vested interests in the process.
   
“The immediate recall of any external police team/squad from Abuja or any other location in Nigeria currently operating in Edo State, illegally arresting perceived political opponents and creating undue tension in the state.
   
“An undertaking and commitment by the Nigeria Police and INEC to operate a level playing field, without allowing themselves to become a private army at the behest of one of the contending parties.”
   
Also, at an emergency press conference addressed by PDP’s acting national chairman, Umar Damagum, yesterday, the opposition party claimed that “a terror squad going by the name ‘IGP Response Team’, acting on the instruction of APC leaders, is hounding, arresting and torturing members and supporters of the PDP, especially those who recently decamped from the APC to the PDP.”
   
The PDP alleged, “Reports reaching our party are that the said APC-controlled torture squad, which is arresting and detaining our members, is allegedly operating with the knowledge of the Commissioner of Police in Edo State, CP Nemo Edwin-Iwo.”
  
It said, “The intention of the APC in this sinister plot is to terrify the people of Edo State, prevent them from coming out to vote and seize the opportunity to manipulate and rig the election, a plot which is being firmly resisted by the people.
   
“There are apprehensions in Edo State that this is an attempt by IGP Police to allow APC thugs to have a field day to unleash violence on the people and pave the way for manipulation of the election in favour of the APC.”

REACTING, Abdulsalami commented that Governor Obaseki had expressed concerns about police bias on Wednesday and had outlined certain conditions that the police needed to meet before the PDP could sign the peace accord.   He expressed his expectation that the PDP should have presented these issues to the committee on political parties instead of outright refusing to sign the accord. 
   
Abdulsalami noted that the PDP still had the opportunity to sign the peace accord by visiting Abuja to do so. Some stakeholders in the PDP, APC and ADC warned that the refusal of some political parties to sign the peace accord ahead of the Edo gubernatorial poll is an indication of the danger ahead of the exercise.  
   
The national chairman of ADC, Ralph Nwosu; chairman of the Campaign Committee of the Ondo gubernatorial election, Dr Eddy Olafeso; and Alhaji Liad Tella, a chieftain of APC in Osun State, said security agents should be placed on red alert to avert any possible violence before, during and after the election because the refusal to sign the peace pact had set a template for a crisis.
   
Speaking to The Guardian, Olafeso accused the APC of perfecting plans to rig out the PDP in Edo and said it would be unwise for Governor Obaseki to sign such an accord. He also boasted that the PDP will not sign such an accord in the coming Ondo gubernatorial election scheduled for November this year. According to him, “What we want is that the Electoral Act must be implemented to the letter in the coming poll.”
   
Alhaji Tella said Obaseki had declared that the electoral umpire was against the APC, forgetting that the APC is also “an election war machine”.  Tella said that the PDP’s arrogant refusal to sign the peace accord is an indication of what Governor Obaseki and the PDP are trying to do. 
   
He said the Edo gubernatorial poll would be tense because both the APC and PDP are of the same ilk and are therefore deploying the same strategy. Nwosu, in his reaction, wondered what the previous peace accord had achieved in past elections. According to him, “I see the whole peace accord as a charade because the Gen. Abdulsalam Peace Committee has never come out to condemn an act of violence in previous elections. I think the committee should be ashamed of itself for not speaking against the obvious acts of violence in the last general polls.”  
   
A security scholar at the University of Ibadan, Prof Oyesoji Aremu, decried the PDP’s action as a potential danger to the election. Aremu said, “The PDP’s action may result in voter apathy because many voters will not come out. I will not be surprised if thugs reign supreme on the day. I appeal to the party to reconsider its stance in the interest of peace.”
   
He said that although no party needs to sign the peace accord, “it is obligatory for the promotion of peace before, during, and after the election”.  He said the PDP’s action “may affect the credibility of the election, given the fact that two of the major parties in the coming election have decided to boycott the peace pact”.
  
 Prof Bayo Okunade of the Political Science Department, UI, who called on the police to be neutral, said the PDP’s action was not good enough for the promotion of a peaceful environment for the election.  He said, “Perhaps they are not telling the whole story. Security agents and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) need to be neutral and impartial in the poll.”

RELATEDLY, a group known as Edo Women for Peaceful and Credible Elections in the state accused the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, of being partisan. 
   
The women held a protest at the venue of the peace accord to express their dissatisfaction with what they perceived as police bias in the lead-up to the election.  
  
 During the protest, the women chanted various solidarity songs and held placards with inscriptions such as “Police are not contesting in the election” and “Credible election begins with us.”
   
The women demanded the immediate redeployment of the Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Nemi Edwin-Iwo and called for the unconditional release of PDP members who were arrested.