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UN scribe lauds election postponement
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Sunday, 03 April 2011

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hopes Nigeria's elections now rescheduled to start on Monday would meet the "high expectations" of Nigerians and the world, Empowered Newswire reports.

In a statement released over the weekend, the UN leader called on the security agencies to ensure a violence-free polling, and politicians to comply with the electoral code of conduct they had "willingly adopted."

Just as INEC Chairman announced the postponement of the National Assembly election yesterday till Monday, the global focus on Nigeria sharpened as major western news stations including CNN beamed news of the postponement, calling it a fiasco in one of its reports yesterday.

Although, speaking on conditions of anonymity yesterday, top UN diplomats described the postponement as "bad news," wondering why INEC had not carried out a dry-run of the polling processes much earlier ahead of yesterday.

A UN source said, "INEC should have transferred the materials weeks ahead in a dry-run that would have revealed the fault lines, enabling the agency to detect the gaps and correct them. Other countries in Africa have done similar things and conducted elections very well, even clinically.”

It will be recalled that INEC did not engage any of UN's electoral assistance capabilities, according to UN officials who said the Federal Government never asked for such assistance.

But Ban's statement had been released just before the postponement and he noted he was "encouraged by the progress achieved by Nigeria in consolidating its democracy and hopes that the forthcoming elections — the fourth held in a row since the restoration of constitutional order in 1999 — would meet the high expectations of the Nigerian people and the international community.”
Furthermore the UN Secretary-General praised what he termed the "bold electoral reforms" that have been undertaken in Nigeria, including significant investments in a new voter registry and other activities

designed to promote credible and transparent elections."

According to the statement released by Ban's Spokesperson "the Secretary-General calls on Nigeria’s authorities to uphold their commitment to violence-free elections and to a level playing field that
enhances public trust in the electoral process."

But some UN diplomats who spoke on conditions of anonymity observed that Ban's statement was rather too soft on the issue of violence, expecting a far much stronger statement from the UN chief at a time when pre-election violence in the country had become quite a worrisome concern.

However the Secretary-General also encouraged the political parties in Nigeria to respect the electoral Code of Conduct "they willingly adopted, and to uphold their commitment to tolerance, inclusiveness and peace during the electoral process."

Mr. Ban concluded "that the successful conduct of these elections would strengthen Nigeria’s democracy, advance its socioeconomic development, and enable the country to continue to play its leading role in the promotion of regional peace, security and economic integration."