UK Government Ready To Back INEC

Elections in Nigeria have been a chaotic affair that has over the years been an event of terror to a lot of Nigerian electorates and even Nigeria’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the extent it has often times attracted interests from the international community such as the UK government and its contemporaries.

The upcoming 2023 general elections is of no different as there are genuine threats to the entire affair as seen from the political play that has taken shape in recent days.

In order to guarantee free, fair, and reliable elections in 2023, the United Kingdom government has promised to fund the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC.

Catriona Laing, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, assured that the UK  government would closely watch the elections in an interview with NAN on Saturday.

The Commissioner disclosed that the UK government would utilize its immigration program to penalize anyone directly or indirectly implicated in electoral violence.

She said:

“I should say we always say that each election alongside our U.S partners that we will have eyes on; we will be monitoring this election closely on the ground and through other means.

“And if we understand that an individual has been involved in violence, either directly or through inciting violence, we can use our visa programme to ensure that that person is not allowed to travel to the UK”.

Laing continued to express confidence that the 2023 election will be free and fair thanks to the new electoral law, which she claimed was supported by the UK government.