The Governments of United States and the United Kingdom have warned against any form of political interference in the process of collating the result of last Saturday.
The two Western powers with long history of relationship with Nigeria enjoined Nigerians to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, to discharge his duty without pressure from any political quarters.
In a joint statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry and his British counterpart, Philip Hammond, they frowned at any attempt to distort the results of the March 28 presidential election in a manner that will not reflect the will of the Nigerian people.
The statement reads in full: “Our governments welcome the largely peaceful vote on March 28. The Nigerian people have shown a commendable determination to register their vote and choose their leaders.
“So far, we have seen no evidence of systemic manipulation of the process. But there are disturbing indications that the collation process—where the votes are finally counted—may be subject to deliberate political interference. This would contravene the letter and spirit of the Abuja Accord, to which both major parties committed themselves.
“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 (INEC), or its Chairman, Prof. Jega; or in any way distort the expressed will of the Nigerian people.”
