Sierra Leone and Liberian leaders should endeavor to ensure transparent and credible elections scheduled for next year in their respective countries, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
President Buhari made the appeal in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, where he was guest of President George Weah, as part of commemoration of Liberia’s independence anniversary.
The celebrations on Tuesday marked the 175th anniversary of Liberia’s independence from the United States.
Like Nigeria, both Sierra Leone and Liberia are headed for the polls in 2023.
According to President Buhari, democracy and good governance must take their roots in the African continent to sustain peace, stability and development, noting that leaders of the continent must redouble their efforts to guarantee the irreversibility of democracy.
“I would like to use the opportunity of this event to address an important issue affecting three countries in the ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) region: Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone,” he said in a statement distributed to the media by his Senior Special Assistant for Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu.
“In Nigeria, we are working towards a free, fair, transparent, credible and acceptable outcome of elections and their results, it is important and necessary for all our countries to key into these resolves as they are indispensable to peace and stability in our countries and sub-region,” he added.
President Buhari stressed that credible election is the only way the sub-region could be insulated from the scourge of unconstitutional change.
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Nigeria, considered a superpower in Africa, plays a huge role in maintaining peace and stability especially in the West Africa region. It is, for instance, the largest contributor to the subregional grouping ECOWAS, which has been preoccupied in the last three years with coups in three member countries – Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
There was also a failed coup attempt by the military in Guinea Bissau in February, 2022.
All of these events, according to ECOWAS leaders, point to an urgent need to act and prevent a resurgence of unconstitutional takeovers.
And President Buhari says this also requires deepening of democracy and good governance.
“The deepening of democracy and good governance are essential antidotes to check-mate unconstitutional change of governments as we sadly witnessed within the last three years…We must strengthen our efforts to guarantee the irreversibility of democracy in our sub-region and Africa,” he said in his statement.
In Liberia, President George Weah, first elected in 2018, is seeking a second and final term in office in elections slated for October 10th. His opponents say he has failed the nation, with reports of worsening poverty levels widespread corruption.
Across the border in Sierra Leone, the last few weeks following announcement of the date for general elections in June 2023 have seen rising political tensions, which this week took ethnic dimension.
Liberia, Africa’s oldest republic, gained independence from the United States on 26 July, 1847.
President Buhari is one of several high-profile guests that include regional leaders who graced Tuesday’s independence anniversary celebration. Also in attendance was President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea Bissau, who is also the current Chairman of ECOWAS.
Nigeria played crucial role in bringing peace to both Sierra Leone and Liberia, which were engulfed in civil wars between 1989 and 2003.
Buhari recalled his country’s sacrifice in that “dark period”
President George Weah praised the people of Nigeria for their support, without which he said Liberia “would not have had peace.”
