By Akinwale Kasali
With less than 72 Hour to the Edo State and weeks to the Ondo State Governorship Elections, the United Kingdom, UK, on Tuesday, warned that those who plan to cause violence during the States governorship elections will face serious sanctions.
It stressed that it may be forced to impose travel restrictions on the perpetrators and prosecute them under international law. The UK also said its Government would go as far as denying them access to their assets.
The Edo State governorship election is scheduled to hold on September 19 while the Ondo State governorship election will hold October 10.
The United Kingdom, in a statement by the British High Commission in Nigeria, Catriona Laing, warned that:
“As a friend and partner of Nigeria, we are closely following the lead up to the off-cycle governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States scheduled for September 19 and October 10 respectively.
“These elections are important both as an essential element of effective governance within both states and an indicator of the strength of Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
“Our High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has held meetings with leaders of the two main political parties, the APC and PDP. The discussions focused on the need for the parties’ leaders to prevail on supporters to avoid violence before and after the elections and we welcome the Edo candidates’ signature of the National Peace Committee and INEC convened peace accord today.
“We will be deploying observation missions to both the Edo and Ondo elections and supporting civil society led observation. The UK takes a strong stand against election-related violence and, just as we did in the general election in 2019, will continue to take actions against individuals we identify as being responsible for violence during the elections.
“This could include restrictions on their eligibility to travel to the UK, restriction on access to UK based assets or prosecution under international law.
“The UK will continue to provide support and engagement as we move towards these elections. We urge INEC, the police and all other agencies involved to work together to deliver free, fair and credible elections.”
The United States has already imposed Visa restrictions on election riggers in the 2019 Kogi and Bayelsa State Governorship Elections.
It has also, based on what its monitors are seeing on ground, extended the restiction to some people in the up-coming Edo and Ondo Governorship Elections.
Many Nigerians have commended the actions of the US Government.
They are also asking the European Union countries and Dubai to do the same, hoping it could bring some sanity to Nigeria’s election process.
