The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, has expressed the hope that Nigerian politicians would continue to exercise restraint and keep the electoral process clean ahead of the forthcoming general elections.
Ki-Moon’s special representative, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, disclosed this to State House correspondents shortly after a closed-door meeting he had with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.
Chambas, who is a former President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, said his visit was a follow-up to the separate telephone conversations the UN boss had with the President and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari, last week.
He said the UN was pleased that the recent shift in the elections dates had since been accepted by all political parties and stakeholders, saying the development would provide an opportunity for many more Nigerians to collect their voter cards and be able to exercise their franchise.
He said, “The Secretary-General told me to commend Mr. President and other leaders of the political parties and Nigerians as a whole for the maturity that have been demonstrated so far in this whole preparation towards the general elections that are now scheduled for later in March.
“We saw first of all the primaries; there were a lot of speculations about how they will go and they transpired in a very calm and peaceful manner.
“The campaigns started, and again Nigerians have demonstrated a lot of maturity in the general manner in which the campaigns have taken place.
“Naturally in periods such as this, there will be heightened tension, heightened rhetoric, but on the whole, we have very little violence associated with this process.
“And this is the same also with the postponement where there were a lot of speculations about what will happen but so far this process has been proceeding in a calm, peaceful and credible manner.
“This is the wish of the UN and also many friends of Nigeria. It is our expectations that all will continue to exercise restraint and keep this process clean. And that at the end of the day Nigerians will all accept the outcome of the vote of the people.”
Chambas also raised concern over the activities of the Boko Haram sect in parts of the country.
He said the UN stood firmly behind Nigeria in its legitimate fight against the insurgents.
He added that Jonathan has the assurance of the Secretary-General for the recent initiative whereby the Lake Chad Basin Commission will be the platform to anchor the multinational task force which is being put in place.
He said the UN, through the Department of Peacekeeping, would ensure that the concept of operations and planning and other activities to ensure a truly joint operational force with a clear commanding control and unity of purpose succeed. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com