2019: We want to see credible election in Nigeria – EU

Karlsen

The European Union (EU) has said it wants to see free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria in 2019, and will partner with the country to ensure that the polls adhere to best practices.

EU’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Ketil Karlsen stated this on Wednesday when he led a delegation to the Minister of Transportation and Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Rotimi Amaechi in his Abuja office.

“We look forward to a good collaboration on this occasion of the 2019 general elections. We have had election observers in Nigeria for all general elections since 1999,” he said.

“For the EU, we really do not have any preferred candidate; we don’t have any preferred political party; we don’t promote any particular ideology in Nigeria. We are very concerned about having the best possible process in the country. We want to see free, fair, credible and peaceful election.

“This is why we have invested not only our time but also a lot of European tax payers’ money on engaging with all the Nigerian stakeholders since 1999.

“We have spent more than One hundred million Euros in giving support for electoral process. So currently, we support INEC, we support the National Assembly, we support intra-party democracy and we support all stakeholders. We had also engaged actively in the party primaries and this gives us reason about the optimism of INEC to conduct elections.”

In his own remarks, Amaechi assured that President Muhammadu Buhari will accept the outcome of the upcoming 2019 elections and will give the electoral body free hand to conduct credible polls.

“One assurance I will give you today is that we’ll stand by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and we will stand by whatever decision they make. We believe that we promised Nigerians change and I also believe that you can observe that change,” Amaechi said.

“The assurance I will give you from President Buhari Campaign Organisation is that there will be no interference by the President. We’ll play by the rules and whatever the campaign team needs to do to ensure that the election is transparent, we will do. We’ll also ensure that the election is such that Nigerians will be proud of, and we hope that the rest who are contesting in other parties will also take the same position.”