From Paul Osuyi and Joseph Obukata, Asaba
Ahead of the forthcoming general elections, the United States on Friday restated it’s sanction of visa denial against anybody including politicians found to be encouraging violence and taking steps to under the electoral process.
The sanction, according to the US Consul General, Will Stevens, is a long standing practice, and would be applicable to electoral offenders as far as the 2023 elections in Nigeria were concerned.
Mr. Stevens spoke in Asaba, Delta State, where he witnessed the signing of Open Government Manifesto by governorship candidates of various political parties in the state at the OpenGov Town Hall meeting organised under the auspices of the Niger-Delta Open Observatory (NOGO) cluster supported by the USAID Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project implemented by Palladium with Policy Alert as lead implementers.
Among the governorship candidates who signed the manifesto were Sunny Ofehe of Young Progressive Party (YPP), Ovie Omo-Agege of All Progressive Congress (APC) represented by Austin Izagbo, Sheriff Oborevwori of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) represented by Funkekeme Solomon, Ken Pela of Labour Party and Goodnews Agbi of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Mr. Stevens told newsmen that the US was very pleased with efforts by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to strengthen the voting process.
He said: “We are really pleased with things like Electoral Reform Act, we should put in place good measures to strengthen voting security.
“We in the US, would discourage any of the politicians, citizens or other parties who encourage violence or seeking to undermine the democratic process.
“One thing we have done in the past and will continue to do, if we see it, is that those who seek to undermine the democratic process can and will be found ineligible for visa to the US.
“It is something, a tool we have in place and do around the world, and have done here in Nigeria and will do it again if we see people seeking to undermine the electoral process or encourage violence.”
Stevens said the US was excited about the forthcoming elections in Nigeria being the fifth largest democracy in the world, adding that his home country has so far “provided nearly $50 million worth of technical assistance to INEC and others to strengthen mechanisms to allow Nigerians feel comfortable such that when they vote, their votes will be counted.”
He also said the US does not have preferred candidates or political parties for the elections, insisting that their interest was in free, fair and credible exercise.
“We in the US do not have a preferred candidate. We are not interested in particular political parties or candidates, what we are interested in is free, fair and credible elections to represent the people of Nigeria.
“These elections are so important, Nigeria is the fifth largest democracy in the world. So when the people of Nigeria come to vote, you are showing the strength of democracy to the rest of the world.
“We are really excited about the upcoming elections, we are doing everything we can to make sure we understand what is happening and articulate to the people of US and the rest of the world,” he added.
Executive Director of Policy Alert, Jejih Bolton Akpan had said the project is aimed at strengthening the uptake and implementation of Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Niger Delta states.
He said the signing of the of the Open Government Manifesto by candidates symbolised their commitment to an open government agenda and their readiness to sustain ongoing governance reforms.
Akpan explained that the town hall was to give citizens a firsthand opportunity to ask questions and demand explicit commitments from governorship candidates on how they plan to implement OGP if elected, adding that similar events would subsequently hold in Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Rivers and Bayelsa states.