July 18, (THEWILL) – The European Union (EU), has reiterated its commitment to strengthen democracy in Nigeria.
The EU Ambassador to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Samuela Isopi, made this known during a press conference in Abuja.
Ambassador Isopi reassured that the protest by supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over the report of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) on the 2023 General Elections, will not diminish the EU economic, cultural, and diplomatic relations with the Government of Nigeria.
She said the objective of the EU EOM, was to report what happened and more importantly to offer recommendations on how to improve democracy in Nigeria.
“Our experience with Nigeria has been positive, the previous reports have helped a lot in guiding the actions of the electoral umpire. I have no doubt that this case will not be different.
“People peacefully demonstrated in front of the delegation here. It is their fundamental right. They were here and they were very peaceful, we delegated some of our staff to interface with them there and they did not create any problem for us. Aside from the election observation mission, we are also a partner to INEC, in providing technical expertise and financial support and our cooperation continues. As far as we are concerned, we want to continue to partner with the largest democracy in Africa”, she said.
While noting that this is not the first time that INEC is inviting the EU to observe the election in Nigeria, the Ambassador said, EU EOM have deployed observation missions in Nigeria since 1999.
“Let me start by saying that the EU EOM report is the report of an independent international observation mission deployed by EU at the request of Nigeria, specifically, at the request of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), upon invitation in writing sent by INEC to EU.
“This is an international election observation mission that worked on the bases of the same framework, like any other international observation mission, on the basis of the protocol of the UN on election observation.
“This is by no way a mission that judges the electoral outcome and does not in any way validate or put a question mark on election results. I think this is very very important to understand”, she said.
Isopi said the EU EOM in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world clearly provides a comprehensive, independent, and impartial assessment of the electoral processes.
She maintained that Election Observation missions, are apolitical and do not pursue any political objective; adding that the EU is a strong and well established globally recognised organisation with methodology and experience.
