The ECOWAS Fact-Finding Mission for Nigerian Elections says the need for free, fair and credible elections brought the mission to Nigeria.
Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Head of the mission and former Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Ghana said they were also to see how the process had been going and the challenges.
According to him, the 2023 general elections remain important to the African continent and beyond, hence the need for stakeholders to play roles to achieve democratic expectations.
Afari-Gyan made this remark on Friday when the mission paid a courtesy visit to Dr Abdul-Azeez Adediran, the Lagos state PDP governorship candidate and his campaign team at the Liberty House in Ikeja.
He said that the delegation had been talking with INEC, security agencies and other stakeholders, adding that the mission would move to various zones in Nigeria to hear from the stakeholders.
“These elections are going to be very important not only for Nigeria but for all of us in Africa and even beyond Africa. We dare not fail. To fail is going to spell doom far beyond Nigeria. That is how critical these elections are.
“For us, we want free, fair and credible elections but the word ‘free’ and ‘fair’ carry important contents- It must be free to do certain things and elections must be free from certain things.
“What should be fair, and who should be fair? We must think about all these,” Afari-Gyan said.
The leader of the delegation stressed the need for stakeholders to join hands to ensure that the nation conducts elections that would be a model for the continent.
