With the February 16 date for the presidential election around the corner, the international community has, for the umpteenth time, warned that it would not tolerate any form of election malpractice that could hamper a smooth electoral process in Nigeria.
Speaking during a courtesy call on the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, last Wednesday, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, called on all stakeholders to work towards peaceful and credible polls.
She said Rivers State, for instance, was very important to the country, pointing out that peaceful polls in the state would have positive multiplier effects than plunging it into electoral violence.
Laing declared that “the British government expects the 2019 general elections in Nigeria to be peaceful, free and fair”.
The envoy said she was also in the state to acquaint herself with the environmental challenges that the government and people of the state were facing.
Governor Wike used the visit to call on the International Community to focus its attention on the forthcoming general elections to stop its planned manipulation by the APC Federal Government.
Governor Wike said it was incumbent on the international community, especially the United Kingdom, United States of America, and the European Union to repeat the 2015 feat when they monitored all the processes.
“We appeal to the international community to focus on the forthcoming general elections.
“This is not the first time the international community will be doing this. In 2015, the United Kingdom, European Union, and the United States actively monitored the elections,” he said.
He said the APC-led Federal Government was foisted on the country by the western powers.
While declaring that the government and people of Rivers State were committed to peaceful polls, Governor Wike charged the United Kingdom to prevail on INEC and security agencies not to manipulate the elections.
“Talk to INEC and the Police to allow Nigerians to vote freely and for their votes to count. Any attempt to manipulate the elections, will make the issue to be out of control of the people,” he said.
Governor Wike said the plot by the APC Federal Government to shut down internet and communication access would make it impossible for the international community and stakeholders to monitor the elections.
The governor said there would be no violence if elections were free and fair. He regretted that the legal outlet for seeking redress had been destroyed by the APC-led Federal Government through the attacks on the judiciary.