The United States and United Kingdom have hailed the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections which took place across Nigeria on Saturday and Sunday, describing the exercise as largely peaceful.
In a joint statement by the two countries, U.S. Secertary of State, John Kerry, and U.K Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, lauded Nigerians for showing a commendable determination to register their vote and choose their leaders.
While they admitted that so far, they had seen no evidence of systemic manipulation of the process, they, however, expressed worry that there may be “deliberate political interference” in the collation process.
They emphasised that such likely interference would be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Abuja Accord which both leading political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress signed.
The statement added: “The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom would be very concerned by any attempts to undermine the independence of the electoral commission or its chairman, Professor Jega; or in any way distort the expressed will of the Nigerian people”.
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