ECOWAS Charges Nigeria to Ensure Success of 2023 Polls

•Says any mistake will have negative effect on subregion, Africa

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), yesterday, charged Nigerians to ensure the success of the 2023 general election as the country could not afford to make a mistake.

ECOWAS said it was concerned about the success of the 2023 general election in the country due to its effects in the region and the Africa continent as a whole.

The sub-regional raised the concern yesterday in Abuja, when a delegation of ECOWAS pre-election fact-finding mission to Nigeria led by Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, former Chairman, Electoral Commission of Ghana, paid a courtesy visit to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters.

According to the leader of the delegation, who is also the Director, Political Affairs, ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Remi Ajibewa, said they were in Nigeria for fact-finding ahead of the country 2023 general election in line with ECOWAS supplementary protocol 2021 to observe elections in Nigeria.

Ajibewa said Article 11, 12 and 13 of the protocol mandated the commission to deploy electoral fact-finding mission to every member states of ECOWAS that were about to conduct the election, especially, presidential election.

He stressed that the delegation’s visit to Nigeria was not the first time as that was done during other previous elections in the country, including the 2019 general election.

Ajibewa said ECOWAS looked forward to successful and credible elections in West Africa countries especially, Nigeria in 2023, given the leadership role the country played in the sub-region.

“We all know the importance Nigeria holds, given the fact that, as they used to say, if Nigeria sneezes, the whole West Africa catches cold and we don’t pray that will be the result. So, we are here to listen to you, to see the area of challenges that we might also report,” he said.

In his response, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, assured the ECOWAS delegation that Nigeria’s 2023 elections would be technology-driven to enhance the success of the election.

“Let me restate the commitment of INEC to Nigeria’s free, fair and credible elections, driven by technology. The 2023 general election in Nigeria will be driven by technology not only as a matter of legal requirement, but also as a matter of course, for us in the commission.

“So, I want to assure the ECOWAS team that we are committed to delivering a credible election in the next four months and a few days, which will be Nigeria’s seventh successive elections, since the restoration of democracy in 1999,” Yakubu said.

The INEC chairman further said that in demonstration of INEC’s openness and the ritual of receiving international observers, the commission had invited international organisations across the world to come and observe Nigeria 2023 general election.