We are looking up to you, ECOWAS tells Nigeria on elections

Ellen Johnson SirLeaf, head of ECOWAS observation mission, say Nigeria has to get it right in the February 16 presidential and parliamentary elections because West Africa is looking up to the country.

She said this when she led a delegation of seven to the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room in Abuja on the eve of the presidential election.

The former president of Liberia acknowledged the role Nigeria played in restoring peace in her country.

‘We know what you (Nigeria) has spent in financial and human resource to buy us (Liberia) peace today, and so we look to you in this election,” she said.

She added that the civil society organisations have an important role to play in helping Nigeria live up to its leadership role in West Africa.

In his response, Clement Nwankwo, executive director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre and convener of the Situation Room, said the organisation has an observer per the 8000 wards across the nation.

He also dsad the CSOs have helped douse the anxiety about violence.

“We have observers on the field, we have called them, so far no complaints. We are keeping an eye on the delivery of sensitive materials across the state. We know it will be a very challenging material for INEC, but an important one as well,” he said.

He added that the ECOWAS mission is the most important of all foreign observers because Nigeria owes other African nation who look up to it, the responsibility of behaving  properly.

“Our duty is to show examples. If the election are not free, fair and credible, we will be showing a bad example to the sub-region and your intervention will be more important than the interventions of other countries because of Nigeria’s previous role in the subregion,” Nwankwo said.