Peter ObiRunning-mate to Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi, has appealed to the European Union to stop politicians from engaging in cote-buying in the 2019 general elections.
Obi, who had a meeting with a delegation of the body today, Wednesday in Abuja, described vote-buying as a new phenomenon and which must be stopped.
“I contested and won elections when I was in a smaller party. Where would I have gotten the money to buy votes if it was the case then; and how would I have gotten back the money, especially when I am going to serve the people?”
He told the EU that the outcome of the presidential primary election conducted in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State on October 13, 2018 showed that it was free and fair, adding that all the presidential candidates agreed that it was the best so far.
Obi said that Nigeria deserved a replacement of the EU election observers in 2019 based on the role EU would play in ensuring free and fair elections in Nigeria.
The EU delegation, Ketil Karlsen assured that the election observer group has been consulting stakeholders in Nigeria to ascertain whether or not it would be necessary for the union to send a new EU election observer mission.
He said that the EU mission had been operating in Nigeria since 1999 and that the union had invested over 100 million Euros in Nigeria’s election process since then.
