Namadi Sambo
Vice President of Nigeria
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Nigeria reiterates commitment to free, fair elections in Africa
The Nigerian government has declared its commitment to ensuring peaceful and successful elections in West Africa and the entire continent.
Nigeria’s Vice-President, Namadi Sambo, stated this when he received the Chief Electoral Officer and Chairman of Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone, Mrs Christiana Thorpe, in Abuja.
Sambo also declared Nigeria’s support for values that encouraged popular participation in electing political leaders.
“Nigeria is in full support with the issues that have to do with elections, particularly in West Africa and in Africa in general.''
“We will give all necessary support and all that is needed to ensure that the population is taken along in choosing their leadership and we are glad to participate and promote this value in West Africa and throughout Africa and the world,” Sambo said.
He advised the visiting electoral commission chairman to use credible people who would do the proper thing, observing that Thorpe's statement showed that Sierra Leone was ready to do the right thing in choosing its leadership.
Sambo said: “The Nigerian government will consider favourably the necessity to give all necessary support to Electoral Commission in Sierra Leone and will encourage partnership with Nigeria’s INEC.
“Our belief is that African problems are best solved by Africans themselves.”
| Mrs Christiana Thorpe, Chairman of Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone, |
The Vice-President said that Nigeria’s electoral commission had the capacity to support Sierra Leone, especially in the area of registration of voters.
Borrowing the Nigerian model
In her remark, Mrs Christiana Thorpe, said she and her delegation were on a-four day visit to Nigeria to understudy the process INEC used in the registration of voters.
“We have carefully followed the election process in Nigeria and the hurdles the election commission had encountered and we were satisfied with the outcome of the elections. This informed our decision to borrow the Nigerian model,” Thorpe noted.
She requested for the Federal Government of Nigeria’s assistance in areas of vehicles, infrastructures and ware houses.
In her words, “for the 2007 elections, we only used containers to keep electoral materials throughout the country because all the buildings had been damaged and those containers are now five years old, they are all rotting up and we do need ware houses now.”
She also appealed to INEC to assist her Commission in providing data-capturing experts to work with the Sierra Leonean experts during the voter registration in her country.
According to her, this will be the first time they will be registering and counting votes outside Freetown, the capital city.
NAN/Williams |
