By Alex Enumah in Abuja
The European Union (EU) has denied the allegation that it favoured a particular candidate in the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria, stressing that it was more interested in deepening democracy and the electoral process than on who emerged as the president.
A former chief observer of the 2015 EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) and member of the European Parliament, Santiago Fisas, who made the clarification in Abuja in response to questions from journalists on his assessment of the 2015, also commended former President Goodluck Jonathan for sacrificing his personal ambition for the interest of the people.
“The international community is not in favour of any candidate. The election was done in a proper way and I praise former President Goodluck Jonathan for accepting the defeat. I think it has proved that he is a man of the state, that he put the interest of Nigeria before his own interest.
“That is an example in Nigeria and for many countries in Africa to follow. He accepted that he lost election to another party,” he said.
Fisas, who disclosed that the mission is in Nigeria to assess the current electoral reform process and the extent to which the previous EU Election Observation Mission recommendations have been addressed, commended the National Assembly for the progress made so far in constitutional and electoral amendment.
Details later…
