Security Challenges: We won't send election observers to N'East, says EU

The European Union has declared that it will not deploy election observers in the North-East because of the security challenges in the zone.

The Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observer Mission in Nigeria, Ambassador Santiago Fisas, made this known when members of the mission visited the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, at the party's national secretariat in Abuja, on Monday.

Fisas said that the EU Election Observer Mission had been in the country since November 2014, and its members had commenced their assignment by monitoring the primaries of the political parties.

'We have been here since mid-November for observations. We followed the primaries, election propaganda, media and possible claims after the election.

'Over 90 election observers have been deployed by the EU to monitor the forthcoming election in all the states but they will not cover the North-East because of the activities of insurgents in the zone.

'For security reasons, unfortunately, we can't deploy into North-East region,” he stated.

He said that though the number of the EU election observers in the country was minimal, nevertheless the observers were the best in terms of quality.

While expressing support for the Abuja Peace Accord, he emphasised that the EU had no favoured candidate or political party.

He said, 'We apply international rules for the election; that means we must be neutral. We don't interfere at all as a mission.

'I will give you an example; it is like a football match. We are not the referee, we are just spectators.'

In his response, the PDP National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, declared that the party would not go back on the accord despite the recent attacks on its campaign train by suspected supporters of the All Progressives Congress.

Oladipo said, 'On the Abuja Accord the PDP stands. Only yesterday, there was a meeting of the National Peace Committee that was set up by eminent Nigerians and the party attended the meeting and we resolved that the Abuja Accord is good for this country. It is good for our future; it is good for our economy. It is good for our image and it is good for our wellbeing.'

On the attacks on the PDP campaign vehicles, Oladipo said, 'If you say our vehicle was burnt, well, that is condemnable. On the part of the PDP, I am assuring you that we stand by the Abuja Accord and we shall continue to observe and respect all the agreements reached.

'We have a unique responsibility as the party in power. The stability of the country, the progress of the country and the image of the country; we have a duty to protect them and we shall continue to do that as a political party.'