Heads of election observers yesterday met with President Goodluck Jonathan barely 48 hours after the Presidential and National Assembly elections were held last Saturday.

They were at the Presidential Villa to congratulate President Jonathan for presiding over election they termed “peaceful, transparent and credible up to yesterday (Sunday).”

They urged Nigerians to remain at peace even after the results.

The meeting, which was held behind closed doors, commenced at about 3.30 pm with Vice President Namadi Sambo also in attendance.

It coincided with the time the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, and top officials of the commission were at International Conference Centre (ICC), giving updates of results of the Presidential Election state by state as announced by the respective resident electoral commissioners.

The members of the election observers include former President John Kuffour of Ghana, who spoke to journalists at the end of the meeting; ex-Liberian leader, Amos Sawyer, and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi.

Also in attendance were: Ambassador Aisha Laraba, who is African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, as well as some senior presidential aides.

According to former President Kuffuor, Muluzi who was former President of Malawi, “is leading the Commonwealth team, while ex-President Sawyer leads the African Union team, and I lead the ECOWAS team.”

“We have been in the country with our groups observing all over the country; now we have come to a point where from what we have seen, I’m sure you heard from some of us yesterday (Sunday) that the elections have been peaceful, transparent and credible up to yesterday.

“We appreciate the processes not yet done till the results are declared, then, of course, the aftermath of the declaration.

“But we have come this far and we wanted to give interim reports to the authorities that mandated us to come and to the world and to Nigerians, in particular, to let everybody know that Nigeria so far has been at peace with the process and so we appeal to Nigerians to continue in this mood throughout the entire process.

“So that at the end of the day, the people of Nigeria will be satisfied with themselves that they use the process to get the government they want and they deserve.

“Nigeria succeeding will be not only in Nigeria, but ‎also to West Africa and to the continent; we will all be made proud of the success here achieved by Nigerians for themselves and for all of us,” he said.

Kuffuor said, “Well, at this point, some of us will go back to our homes and we couldn’t go without coming to the State House here to the President and the Vice President for the good work they have done. Because it is under their watch that this peaceful, transparent, credible election has been happening and is natural they are congratulated for the work done so far.

“So, that is why we came to pay respect to the President, his deputy, more or less to ask leave to go. Of course, leaving the rest of our observer teams behind to see through the entire process, hoping it will reach very successful conclusions, so they make final reports to world.”

*Adapted from Newswatch Times. Photo shows Jonathan recieving the team

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