Buhari assures Theresa May that next year's Nigerian elections will be free and fair

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has assured British prime minister Theresa May that next year's general elections will be free and fair stressing that they will meet acceptable global standards.

Mrs May arrived in Abuja yesterday on her Nigerian leg of an African tour and immediately held bilateral talks with President Buhari before flying to Lagos. During their meeting, President Buhari assured Mrs May of his commitment to conducting free, fair and credible elections in February 2019 when Nigeria goes to the polls.

President Buhari said: "I assure you that I’m all out for free, fair and credible elections. I’m very pleased that my party is doing very well as the recent successes in polls in Katsina, Bauchi, and Kogi have boosted our morale greatly.

"Nigeria has accepted multiparty democracy and that is putting politicians on their toes, forcing them to work harder. The high commissioner will brief you more."

On the anti-corruption campaign, the president applauded the British support to the country, noting that the success of the fight was very important to ordinary people in Nigeria. On Brexit, President Buhari noted that it provides an opportunity to strengthen the historic ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

“We had great opportunities and resources between 1999 and 2014, due to high oil prices but when we came in 2015, oil prices plunged to as low as $37 per barrel. What we have been doing since 2015 is to focus on infrastructure development, despite low earnings and work is ongoing in roads, rail, power, and many others.”

"We are nervously watching the development about Brexit because we know that the relationship had been on for a long time. I assure you that I am prepared to strengthen the relationship between our two countries," President Buhari added.

Prime minister May, who welcomed the assurance by the Nigerian government on credible elections in 2019, said she was pleased to be in Abuja to continue the excellent discussions she started with President Buhari in London in April, this year, particularly on security, trade, asset recovery and the fight against corruption. She also appealed to President Buhari to use his position as Economic Community of West African States chairman to keep the issue of human trafficking on the front burner in the sub-region.

Mrs May added: "Security and defence cooperation are very important steps to address Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa. On asset recovery, we do not want to hold anything that belongs to Nigeria people but we follow the judicial process, which can be slow."