- Wike urges Int’l community to monitor election processes
Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcour
British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has called on all stakeholders in the 2019 elections to work towards peaceful and credible polls.
This came as Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, called on the international community to focus on all processes of the elections in order to stop what he said was the planned manipulation by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government.
The duo spoke yesterday at Government House in Port Harcourt when Laing paid the governor a visit.
The High Commissioner said the British Government expects the 2019 general election to be peaceful, free and fair, and called on all stakeholders to ensure a successful outing.
She said Rivers State is important to the country, pointing out that peaceful polls in the state would have positive multiplier effect in both the state and the country.
Laing added that she was also in the state to acquaint herself with the environmental challenges facing the state.
Addressing the High Commissioner, Wike, called on the international community to focus on the forthcoming general election to stop the planned manipulation by the APC federal government.
He said it is 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.
According to him, “We appeal to the international community to focus on the forthcoming general election.
“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 the APC federal government was foisted on the country by the western powers.
While declaring that the government and people of Rivers State are committed to peaceful polls, Wike charged the United Kingdom to prevail on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies not to manipulate the elections.
“Talk to INEC and the police to allow Nigerians vote freely and for their votes to count. Any attempt to manipulate the elections will spill the process out of control of the people,” he said.
The governor said the plot by the APC federal government to shutdown internet and communication access would make it impossible for the international community and stakeholders to monitor the elections.
He stated further that there can be no violence if elections are free and fair, regretting that the legal outlet for seeking redress has been destroyed by the APC federal government through the attacks on the judiciary.
