President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, in Monrovia, urged Liberia and Sierra Leone to do all within their powers to ensure that elections were conducted in their countries in an atmosphere of trust, freedom, and transparency.
Buhari called on Liberia and Sierra Leone, including Nigeria, as the three West African nations set for 2023 national elections to ensure peace and stability in their countries and sub-region.
The Nigerian leader noted that this was the only way the sub-region could be insulated from the scourge of unconstitutional takeovers that raised heads in three countries recently.
In a statement by his Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Tuesday, Buhari made this call in a 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 said, “I would like to use the opportunity of this event to address an important issue affecting three countries in the Economic Community of West African States 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.
“The deepening of democracy and good governance are essential antidotes to check the 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.”
