By Joshua Omoloye, Abuja
British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing has said that Nigeria’s future relevance in global community depends on how it can deepen her democracy by conducting credible election in 2023.
She said the United Kingdom, the whole of Africa and the world look forward to the next general election which she said will shape the position of the country in global democracy.
The High Commissioner spoke in Abuja Thursday during a courtesy call on the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the party’s national secretariat.
She said the delegation was at the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the party to hear from Ayu, his plans for that and what PDP as a major party can do to ensure that the election is secure and that young people in particular turn up to vote.
Laing said “our aspiration is for 2023 to be a credible, credible election that the people of Nigeria have confidence in.
We will not be taking a stance beyond that. Obviously we’ll be following the interests the manifestos and the policy and hoping for good policy that will enable Nigeria to move forward and take its rightful place in the global community.
She frowned at low turn out of voters during elections while calling for concerted efforts to inspire youth participation in politics.
“One of the challenges in Nigeria has been low turnout, you know, what we can we do collectively to inspire the youth to believe in in their politics and in the future of their country. We look forward to see how
much this election matters”, she said .
Expressing further confidence in Nigeria’s democratic culture, the envoy said “Nigeria has been on the democratic journey since 1999. And that, in itself is something to be very proud of.
” You’re in a region, unfortunately, where the democracy is backsliding. I know in Nigeria, your president has taken a very clear forward position on that, and in ECOWAS and so on.
“So the world will be watching this election, and hoping it goes well. So it matters, obviously, for the people of Nigeria, it matters for Africa, and it matters for the world.
“You’re one of the largest democracies globally. And we want you to stay (PART) Of that global community. That’s a very important objective for our government to talk about building a network of liberty like minded countries and also a democratic Global Alliance. That’s our hope and aspiration for Nigeria”.
Responding, the PDP chairman assured Britain that the party will always protect and advance democratic processes in the country and collaborate with any nation aspiring to assist in growing Nigeria’s democracy.
Ayu said “thank you for the interests that you and your government has shown in the progress we have made in our democratic journey. Let me start by assuring you that this party believe strongly in the democratic process. You must be aware that it was formed as a party that was opposed to dictatorship and we have continue to chart that course for a long time whether in good times or bad times.
“When we are able to win elections from the beginning in 1999. We led in building democratic institutions quite a number of institutions that exist today. We also continue to win elections because of popular support that we received in Nigeria across the country, including international community that came to support what we were doing.
“Along the line, In a commitment to democracy, we had an election which we lost, we accepted defeat because our deep belief in the democratic process. so we’re not happy to be in a position for the last six years. No party wants to be in opposition. We have been working very hard to rebuild the party to make sure that Nigerians have confidence in us as a party.
” I want to assure you that we will not deviate from the democratic journey and we expect all other parties in this country to also try as much as to uphold the tenants of democracy which is free and fair
elections.
“We expect all umpires institutions including the Independent National Electoral Commission carry out their work without bias against us as major opposition party.
“What we want to see from friends of Nigeria is to support and encourage everybody to play by the rules so that even if we lose, we accept that we’ll have lost. But we want everybody to play by the rules because in
the past, we had had serious reservation about the performance of the umpire institutions”.
