EU ambassadors pays pre election assessment visit to APC headquarters

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, Turakin Keffi, played host today, to a delegation of Ambassadors from the European Union, who are in Nigeria on an election exploration mission. The EU team, headed by Mette Bakken, took time to brief the Chairman on the mission of the mission, which principally centres on the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria.

In summarising their mission, Mette Bakken said, the EU election observers have been in partnership with Nigeria since 1999, and they stand with the country in its efforts to ensure democratic elections and respect for the rule of law. Their delegation is an exploratory mission, aimed at meeting with critical stakeholders in the country, as well as assessing the situation on ground, with respect to the issues of economy and security, especially how the country is confronting the challenge of fighting Boko Haram terrorism.

It is the hope of the mission to interface with institutions like the political parties, the election umpire, INEC, civil society groups and other stakeholders, with a view to working towards transparent and credible elections, particularly violent free elections. Because the EU has been very much engaged in supporting electoral processes in Nigeria and had previously deployed observers, it wants to continue with such support in subsequent elections in the country, not only the Presidential, but Parliamentary, Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections in the country.

Bekken said, theirs is to feel the pulse of the country and gauge the political temperature, on the basis of which the EU would take a decision regarding the suitability of any deployment or otherwise.

Pursuant to some concerns raised, mainly about two issues- security and the allegation of abuse of power by the government in power, and whether such concerns could mar the credibility of the election, the chairman was very blunt. He said as the ruling party, he challenged anyone to show proof that it is the APC that is the singular culprit. If there is any allegation of any over bearing behaviour, perhaps the blame can not be levelled only on the APC. There are states that are controlled by the opposition, and whatever problem is raised in the APC state, it is likely to be raised in those states, although he said, as the ruling party, the onus is more on them to do the right thing. And the right thing they would continue to do.

He admitted that by virtue of the long relationship that existed between Nigeria and the EU, including the fact that as a member of the EU, Britain, was the colonial master of Nigeria, hence he feels, it has a moral right to monitor what is happening in the country, be it regarding well being or otherwise. The chairman said with regards security, everyone can see that the government is doing everything to reverse the situation from bad to good and even very good.

A visit to the north east would show that the insurgents have been subdued, and the region is back to normalcy. The story is similar in the north west, where the bandits are being degraded on daily basis. So also is the north central, which is enjoying a relative peace. The challenge of pipeline vandalisation is being addressed with success in the south south. In the south west, the regional leaders are working with the Federal government to provide every security. The chairman said, if there is the likelihood of any security concern, it has to be in the south east, where the people are forced to observe an unpopular sit at home policy. But even at that, the governors of the region have come to realize that the policy does more harm to them than good, hence the resolve to reverse it.

In all, the chairman said, on the basis of the indices at hand, he can not see anything that would hamper the success of the election.

The team, which said it plans to visit Kano, would parley with other political parties and institutions, because they are the major vehicles for the transmission of a credible election. It is based on their assessment of the process, that the EU would decide whether or not to deploy observers. And if a decision is made to do so, an advanced team would arrive six weeks to the elections, and a smaller delegation may remain in the country up to three weeks after the election, in order to see to the process of election petitions, and any other complaint that may follow.