The Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, has stated that his party will sign the peace accord with other political parties once the Federal Government and the Nigeria Police Force meet their conditions.
Ighodalo, who appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today, expressed concerns about the arrest and detention of PDP members without charges.
He demanded their release or charging to court before signing the peace accord.
The PDP candidate cited a lack of level playing ground as the reason for declining to sign the peace accord initially.
However, he acknowledged the Inspector General of Police’s assurance of neutrality and a level playing field.
Ighodalo emphasized his camp’s commitment to nonviolence and stated that they will not change their stance.
The PDP had declined to participate in the peace accord signing ceremony on Thursday, citing allegations against the police.
The party’s chairman, Tony Aziegbemi, had stormed out of the venue in protest, highlighting the arrest of a party member and local government chairman, Collins Aigbogu, who remains in detention.
“We had a number of conditions, most of the conditions have now been met with one left. Many of our guys have been held unjustly.
“We think if you hold guys, you either charge them or you let them go on bail. So, either they charge all our guys and we are represented or let them go on bail. Once that is achieved we will sign the peace accord,” Ighodalo said.
The PDP candidate cited lack of level playing ground as the major reason his party declined to sign the peace accord, but acknowledged that the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun has now assured the party neutrality.
“We saw a lot of our supporters being harassed, being intimidated, we saw thugs from the other party – everybody saw them on TV with weapons, none of those guys were arrested.
“Of course, we have a reason to feel strongly harassed and intimidated. Based on that we felt strongly that unless a level playing ground is created, we would not sign the peace accord.”
