N’East: EU demands security to monitor elections

The European Union may send
election observers to the North-
East, if Nigerian government
guarantees security of its officers in
the zone.
The Chief Observer of the EU
Election Observation Mission in
Nigeria, Mr. Santiago Fisas, gave this
indication during an interactive
session with journalists in Abuja on
Thursday.
Fisas was asked whether the EU
would send election observers to
the North-East since the
Independent National Electoral
Commission had shifted the
February elections to March 28 and
April 11.
He said, “I hope that peace returns
to the North-East. We shall be very
glad to go to there, if possible. That
depends on Nigerian authorities,
not on us.”
The head of the mission said the
group would expect the Federal
Government to guarantee the
security of its observers.
The EUEOM had said a few weeks
ago that it would not deploy
election observers in the North-
East because of the security
challenges in the zone.
“Over 90 election observers have
been deployed by the EU to
monitor the forthcoming election
in all the states but they will not
cover the North-East because of the
activities of insurgents in the zone.
For security reasons, unfortunately,
we can’t deploy into North-East
region,” the chief observer had said
during a meeting with the Peoples
Democratic Party leadership in
Abuja
But on Thursday, Fisas said that the
mission would be happy to go to all
parts of the country, including the
North-East, if there was security.
“We will be happy to go to all parts
of the country, but the first thing for
us is that our people must be
secured. That is very important,” he
said.
He disclosed that the EU initially
budgeted 4.4 million Euros for its
2015 election observation mission
in Nigeria but that the union would
now spend extra 1.8million Euros
because of the shift in the elections
by six weeks.
“We will spend extra 1.8m euro to
stay because of the election shift.
Our initial budget is 4.4m Euro,” he
said.
He described the group as a neutral
organisation, adding that it did not
have preferred candidates and that
the presence of the EU mission in
Nigeria was on the invitation of the
Federal Government.
He said the mission would not go to
countries where it was not invited
and he commended Nigerians for
the interest they had shown in the
electoral process, particularly the
collection of the Permanent Voter
Cards.
The EU Election Observer Mission,
since its arrival in the country in
November, had been monitoring
party primaries and campaigns.