Vice President Yemi Osinnajo said the African Union could not elect a new leader on Monday as member-states wanted to see a fresh set of candidates or additional ones to those earlier nominated.
Osinbajo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the AU summit held in Kigali, Rwanda, however, said he was pleased with the process which, according to him, went very well as the rules were followed and member-states’ wishes reflected.
His spokesman, Laolu Akande, Tuesday quoted him thus: "The outcome is a fair conclusion, and it’s very clear that member-states would like to see fresh elections, would like to see possibly a fresh set of candidates or at least additional candidates to those who have already been nominated, he said this after the botched election.
"The extension of the election is clearly the product of the rules and the way the rules were interpreted. Why the election ended the way it did was because many members obviously felt the need for a fresh look at candidates and possibly have a few others,"
The vice president was also quoted to have stated after the 27th Ordinary Session of the AU that Nigeria had hitherto suggested the postponement of the election to next January.
Osinbajo said that the summit hailed President Buhari’s administration’s programmes, especially the N500bn Social Intervention Programme.
The vice president added that during the summit, Nigeria received "tremendous support from everywhere" for the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.
