President Muhammadu Buhari has said free, transparent, and credible elections are indispensable to peace and stability in West Africa.
The President said this Tuesday in his goodwill message to the government and people of Liberia as he joined other world leaders on the occasion of the 175th Independence Anniversary of the West African nation.
Buhari, who spoke in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, called on leaders in West Africa to do all within their powers to ensure that elections were conducted in their countries in an atmosphere of trust, freedom and transparency.
He said this remained the only way the sub-region could be insulated from the scourge of unconstitutional takeovers that reared its head in three countries recently.
According to him, democracy and good governance must take their roots in the African continent to sustain peace, stability and development while leaders 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 region; Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
"All the three nations have National Elections in 2023. 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.
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"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 in three countries within our sub-region. We must strengthen our efforts to guarantee the irreversibility of democracy in our sub-region and Africa," he said in a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu.
President Buhari, who recalled Nigeria's leading roles that pulled the country back from its fratricidal insurrection in the 90s, added that his presence at the celebrations underscored his strong belief in cementing existing bilateral ties.
"Nigeria's contributions to the survival and safety of Liberia are well known. The dark period of your country's civil war from 1989 to 1997, was a period that Nigeria invested hugely for peace in Liberia and indeed stability in the rest of the ECOWAS sub-region. May those dark days never re-surface in our countries and sub-region."
He commended his Liberian counterpart, Dr George Manneh Weah, for his demonstration of love for the country and the pursuance of peace, unity and progress, as evidenced by people-oriented projects executed with the sole purpose of taking the country to greater heights within the limited resources available. While urging the Liberian leader to do more, he assured him of Nigeria's continued support in this regard:
The President of Liberia, Dr George Weah, thanked President Buhari and other West African leaders for their attendance.
"Thank you, Mr President and the good people of Nigeria. Without your support we would not have had peace," he added.
