The leader of the ECOWAS delegation and former President of the Ghana Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, said this during a courtesy visit to the chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, Yabagi Sani in Abuja.
According to him, the overall objective of the visit was to undertake an assessment of the status of preparations for the conduct of the polls in implementing the objectives of the Mission.
Afari-Gyan however called on political parties in Nigeria to embrace dialogue, saying that, “the 2023 elections should not be seen as a battle.”
“We’ll really like to urge the political parties to stop talking at each other and being abusive, but start talking to each other. You’re not having a battle,” he advised.
Sani identified the absence of committed and patriotic leadership as one of the major challenges to development in the country.
He said unless the challenges affecting the process of leadership recruitment for the nation were addressed, the quest for collective prosperity and progress in the country would remain a mirage.
Sani said, “Almost 40 per cent of all global resources are deposited in Africa and why we are not able to take advantage of it is because elections are not representative of what people really want.
“And if you cannot recruit the right leadership in the position of governance, then problems continue to be compounded because those you have they’re not there by the wish of the people.
“So, your visit is timely because some of the things that are happening are not good for our peace of mind, especially the issues of violence and the use of money in the electoral process. If this kind of visit is not taking place, perhaps such things will keep happening with greater impunity.”
He, however, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission for the measures so far put in place, particularly digital technology, to sanitise the country’s electoral processes.
“We’re happy that INEC has done quite a lot in terms of bringing to bear all that is required to ensure that we have credible, peaceful, reliable and all-inclusive elections by way of stabilizing the process,” Sani said.
