Members of the National Peace Committee for the 2015 General Elections on Tuesday met with President Muhammadu Buhari to urge him to ensure due process in his administration’s anti-corruption war.
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Kukah, spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the closed-door meeting held inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Kukah said committee members at the meeting with Buhari gave update about the relevance of the committee itself and how members could help to nurture the peace God has given to the country.
Kukah said the meeting with the President was neither an intervention nor a hearing session.
“This is not an intervention. It is not a hearing out process. When we had the elections, it was like a wedding. Now the reality of government is the marriage and people need to be encouraged.
“We need to reaffirm that this is our country and the only thing we can collectively be opposed to is injustice, iniquity, corruption and in that regard we all had one single conversation. The President has also reaffirmed the need for this committee to continue, and the international committee has very much welcomed the contributions of the committee.
“Essentially, we are not policing, but when the need arises, we will help to build confidence in the process,” he said.
He confirmed that members of the committee had met with Jonathan after meeting with some political parties.
He claimed the meeting with Buhari was not at Jonathan’s instance, saying the parley was a continuation of a series of intervention aimed at getting feedbacks from the conduct of the last elections.
“Anybody is free to come to our committee but President Jonathan, never by telephone or other means, talked to the committee.
“We went to see him, but that is after we had already seen members of the political parties and members of the civil society.