Ishola Michael
Gombe State chapter of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated the State Command of the Police Force for not protecting it and its members enough thereby exposing them to danger.
The party, therefore, refused to append its signature to the peace accord document which ceremonial signing was organized by the State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC).
State Chairman of the PDP, Maj. Gen. Amnon Kwaskebe (rtd.) while giving reasons for not participating in the signing of the peace document, told Journalists that the Police Command has failed to protect the party and its facilities across the state.
According to him, the party’s governorship candidate, Muhammad Barde, is the “most attacked gubernatorial candidate in the state” considering the number of times his campaign facilities have been attacked and yet nobody has been prosecuted.
According to him, “Our decline to sign the document is a decision of the leadership of the party at the state level. All of you are aware of what has been happening to the PDP in terms of attacks on facilities.”
Amnon Kwaskebe added that “We have reported officially to all the security agencies, especially the lead security agency, but nothing was done and that is why you have seen our gubernatorial candidate is not here. I don’t blame him for not coming, I have come as party Chairman.”
The PDP Chairman added that “Our candidate is the most attacked gubernatorial candidate. We have tried to report officially without reacting and the Police have not taken any action. We have declined to sign this document.”
He noted a lack of confidence in the process, saying, “we have confidence in the process but you have to build peace on an established peace.”
In his reaction to the stance of the PDP not to sign the peace document, the Commissioner of Police, Oqua Etim, decried the decision of the party’s leadership not to sign the peace accord.
A worried Oqua Etim said that “It is unfortunate that PDP out of 18 political parties did not sign the document. It is not only their billboards that were destroyed. Is it only one political party’s billboard that was destroyed?”
According to him, “Even Churches billboards are destroyed. We have a signage agency, have they tried to find out who destroyed the billboards? Can billboards vote?”
On the allegation of buying Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), the Commissioner of Police said that it was irrelevant for political parties to buy up PVCs.
According to him, “They should stop making wild allegations, if you take ATM to the bank, do you take the pins.”
In his remarks at the ceremony, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Ibrahim Umar, said that buying PVCs at the moment is foolhardy.
According to him, “It is very abnormal, because of technology, I don’t know what you mean by cloning PVCs. If you come with PVC that is not your own, you will not be accredited by the technology of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation system (BVAS).”
On political parties’ participation, he said, “it is their wish, we are not coercing anybody. We signed the last accord in 2019 and it was successful. Gombe has 14 governorship candidates 13 signed and it is fair. Since it is not compulsory.”
The State Governor, Muhammadu Yahaya, said that “as the Governor, I am the Chief Security Officer of the state and APC is the ruling party not only in Gombe but in the entire federation. It is only when there is peace, security, and tranquillity that there will be good governance, we are after good governance.”
The record of INEC indicates that 18 political parties would participate in elections in the state, with 14 presenting gubernatorial candidates for the March 11th gubernatorial election.
Though the peace accord is voluntary and not mandatory for political parties to participate, however, it is a mediation process that helps forestall violence before, during and after the General elections as violators will be held responsible based on the contents of the peace document signed.
The Peace Accord was organized by the INEC the state in collaboration with Inter-agency consultative committee on election security held on Wednesday.
