President Muhammadu Buhari has said free, transparent and credible elections are indispensable to peace and stability in West Africa.
The president said this yesterday in his goodwill message to the government and people of Liberia as he joined other world leaders on the occasion of the 175th independence anniversary of the West African nation.
Buhari, who spoke in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, called on leaders in West Africa to do all within their powers to ensure that elections were conducted in their countries in an atmosphere of trust, freedom and transparency.
He said this remained the only way the sub-region could be insulated from the scourge of unconstitutional takeovers that reared their heads in three countries recently.
According to him, democracy and good governance must take their roots in the African continent to sustain peace, stability and development, while leaders must redouble their effort to guarantee the irreversibility of democracy.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, Buhari said, “I would like to use the opportunity of this event to address an important issue affecting three countries in the ECOWAS region: Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
“All the three nations have national elections in 2023. In Nigeria, we are working towards a free, fair, transparent, credible and acceptable outcome of elections and their results. It is important and necessary for all our countries to key into these resolves as they are indispensable to peace and stability in our countries and sub-region.
“The deepening of democracy and good governance are essential antidotes to checkmate unconstitutional change of governments as we sadly witnessed within the last three years in three countries within our sub-region. We must strengthen our effort to guarantee the irreversibility of democracy in our sub-region and Africa.”
