Election observer missions’ heads meet president, commends process
Election observer
missions’ heads meet president, commends process
Heads of election observers
yesterday met with President
Goodluck Jonathan barely 48 hours
after the Presidential and National
Assembly elections were held last
Saturday.
They were at the Presidential Villa to
congratulate President Jonathan for
presiding over election they termed
“peaceful, transparent and credible
up to yesterday.”
They urged Nigerians to remain at
peace even after the results.
The meeting, which was held behind
closed doors, commenced at about
3.30 pm with Vice President Namadi
Sambo also in attendance.
It coincided with the time the
Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) Chairman,
Professor Attahiru Jega, and top
officials of the commission were at
International Conference Centre
(ICC), giving updates of results of the
Presidential Election state by state as
announced by the respective
resident electoral commissioners.
The members of the election
observers include former President
John Kuffour of Ghana, who spoke to
journalists at the end of the
meeting; ex-Liberian leader, Amos
Sawyer, and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi.
Also in attendance were:
Ambassador Aisha Laraba, who is
African Union Commissioner for
Political Affairs, as well as some
senior presidential aides.
According to former President
Kuffuor, Muluzi who was former
President of Malawi, “is leading the
Commonwealth team, while ex-
President Sawyer leads the African
Union team, and I lead the ECOWAS
team.”
“We have been in the country with
our groups observing all over the
country; now we have come to a
point where from what we have
seen, I’m sure you heard from some
of us yesterday (Sunday) that the
elections have been peaceful,
transparent and credible up to
yesterday.
“We appreciate the processes not yet
done till the results are declared,
then, of course, the aftermath of the
declaration.
“But we have come this far and we
wanted to give interim reports to the
authorities that mandated us to
come and to the world and to
Nigerians, in particular, to let
everybody know that Nigeria so far
has been at peace with the process
and so we appeal to Nigerians to
continue in this mood throughout
the entire process.
“So that at the end of the day, the
people of Nigeria will be satisfied
with themselves that they use the
process to get the government they
want and they deserve.
“Nigeria succeeding will be not only
in Nigeria, but also to West Africa
and to the continent; we will all be
made proud of the success here
achieved by Nigerians for themselves
and for all of us,” he said.
Kuffuor said, “Well, at this point,
some of us will go back to our homes
and we couldn’t go without coming
to the State House here to the
President and the Vice President for
the good work they have done.
Because it is under their watch that
this peaceful, transparent, credible
election has been happening and is
natural they are congratulated for
the work done so far.
“So, that is why we came to pay
respect to the President, his deputy,
more or less to ask leave to go. Of
course, leaving the rest of our
observer teams behind to see
through the entire process, hoping it
will reach very successful
conclusions, so they make final
reports to world.”
