ECOWAS deploys 250 Election Observers to Nigeria as Buhari Promises Maintenance of Peace during and after Elections
The President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, Kadre Ouedraogo, has disclosed the deployment of 250 election observers to Nigeria ahead of the upcoming general elections.
Ouedraogo revealed this while visiting the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja on Wednesday, saying the move was to affirm the commission’s interest in the country’s peace and stability.
“We have decided to deploy an observer team of 250 persons to Nigeria and we have decided to deploy a long-term observation mission.
“They were deployed from Jan. 20 to all the geo-political zones of Nigeria. They came back on Feb. 9 after the postponement of the election but we had debriefing session with them.
“So, they made their observation and recommendations and we have decided to engage all the stakeholders to exchange views and to share their findings and their observations,” he said.
He also said that the commission decided it was imperative to visit Buhari so as to gather his views on the electoral process while monitoring and observing the general elections.
He continued, “In addition, we must be grateful if we can have your views on the electoral process so that we can put it in the way ECOWAS is going to bring its support to peaceful and stable elections in Nigeria.
“This is because peace and stability are essential for development and we know that peace and security in Nigeria are so important for the rest of our community.”
“They are of great importance for peace and stability to our region and this is the reason the chairman of the authority together with all ECOWAS institutions are following very closely electoral process in Nigeria.”
In his response to the ECOWAS President, Buhari applauded President Goodluck Jonathan for promising to hand over on May 29 despite the postponement of the polls while also making assurances of a peaceful atmosphere before, during and after the elections.
He said: “The six weeks extension is accommodated in the Constitution for holding elections and INEC has said it has between 75-80 per cent successes in the distribution of the voter cards.
“Mr President has made very encouraging comments weeks ago by saying he’ll hand over to whoever emerged winner.
“We told our supporters to embrace peace before the accord and even after the signing of the accord we have continued to urge them to show restraint. We intend to maintain this pressure until the elections take place.”
