US, UK warn against manipulation of results

The governments of the United States and
United Kingdom have warned against
“deliberate political interference” in the
collation of the March 28 election results in
Nigeria.
In a joint statement by the US secretary of state
John Kerry (pictured, right) and UK foreign
secretary Philip Hammond (pictured, left), they
warned that this would “contravene the letter
and spirit of the Abuja Accord, to which both
major parties committed themselves”.
The statement, released on Monday afternoon,
commended Nigerians for the “largely peaceful”
conduct at the polls.
“Our governments welcome the largely peaceful
vote on March 28. The Nigerian people have
shown a commendable determination to
register their vote and choose their leaders.
“So far, we have seen no evidence of systemic
manipulation of the process. But there are
disturbing indications that the collation process
—where the votes are finally counted—may be
subject to deliberate political interference. This
would contravene the letter and spirit of the
Abuja Accord, to which both major parties
committed themselves.
“The Governments of the United States and the
United Kingdom would be very concerned by
any attempts to undermine the independence of
the Electoral Commission (INEC), or its
Chairman, Professor Jega; or in any way distort
the expressed will of the Nigerian people,” they
said.
The results of the presidential election are
expected to be announced on Monday.