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“The general elections this year will be probably the best”
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has again expressed optimism that the forthcoming general elections will be the best ever in Nigeria.
Lawan stated this on Tuesday while playing host to a delegation of the European Union election observers and former Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga who paid separate courtesy visits to the Senate President.
Odinga was in Nigeria at the instance of the Management of the Leadership newspapers for their Annual Conference and Awards which held in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Senate President told his guests that the National Assembly had worked very hard to provide necessary support to the electoral agency and enacted the needed legislation to guide the electoral environment for the polls.
Receiving the EU delegation led by Thomas Boserup, Deputy Chief Observer, the Senate President said: “The general elections this year will be probably the best. This is because we worked so hard in the National Assembly to produce a very good document to guide electoral environment in Nigeria.
“The amendment to the Electoral Act was signed into law by Mr President last year and the INEC has been given ample opportunity and a great deal of latitude to introduce technology in the elections.
“The introduction of BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) I think will go a long way in ensuring that election fraud, manipulations are reduced to the barest minimum.
“We believe that has been one of the serious issues that bedeviled our elections previously.
“The thing that motivates us more is what we have been able to give to INEC. I think INEC is a princely institution. We have always prioritised INEC. We believe that INEC shouldn’t be in want. Where INEC makes a request, we believe we should always give INEC what our country can afford.
“Where we are able to give everything, we should do so. If we have to meet INEC halfway, we must have a strong reason to do so. This is because we don’t want any excuse from INEC.
“We want INEC to perform very well. We want the elections in 2023 to be very credible and very transparent and with the introduction of BVAS, we believe we can achieve that feat.
“Your (EU)statement in 2019 was very helpful. We believe that the stability of Nigeria is the stability of Africa and indeed, the stability of the world. And what you are doing is not only to stabilize our political or electoral process but to ensure that other countries copy from us.”
Also while receiving Kenyan former Prime Minister and his delegation, Lawan re-echoed similar sentiments about the 2023 polls.
The Senate President commended Odinga for his role in ensuring that Kenyan democracy is peaceful and stable.
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