![APC logo. [ Google ]](http://media.assettype.com/lagoslocalnews%2F2024-05%2F11d0da17-5dcf-4cdb-88b3-ff241a84b530%2F1B50D1C4_6DC2_4707_B0D3_10EB438D1C31.jpeg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
Less than two hours before the scheduled signing of the Peace Accord between political parties participating in the September 21 Edo governorship election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) announced it would not be signing the agreement.
This development comes just a day after Governor Godwin Obaseki, while receiving the Chairman of the National Peace Committee, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, hinted that his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might boycott the peace accord due to concerns over police bias and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Addressing a press conference at the party secretariat, APC Publicity Secretary Emperor Jarret Tenebe outlined the reasons behind their decision not to sign the peace pact.
He cited the unsolved murder of an APC party member, Inspector Onuh Akor, who was the orderly to the party's candidate, Sen. Monday Okpebholo.
Tenebe claimed that despite the former Commissioner of Police's assurance that the perpetrators were known, no arrests have been made. He alleged that Governor Obaseki is harboring the suspects in the Government House.
The APC spokesperson further accused the governor and the PDP of relentlessly attacking APC supporters at rally grounds and private business premises. He recounted several incidents of attacks on the APC campaign team in different local government areas.
Tenebe stated that the governor's silence and failure to condemn these attacks as the Chief Security Officer of the state has emboldened the PDP. He also mentioned inflammatory statements made by a PDP chieftain threatening national unrest if the party's candidate is not declared the winner.
The APC demanded that the police take concrete steps to declare the suspects in the Inspector Akor murder case wanted before they can consider signing the peace accord.
The party cited the unwillingness of the state government to embrace peace and the inability of security agencies to guarantee a peaceful electoral environment as reasons for their decision.
