Santiago Fisas, Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observer Mission in Nigeria, has said that the EU would not send election observers to the North-Eastern part of the country, which is the hotbed of Boko Haram insurgents.
Fisas made the disclosure on Monday when members of the mission paid a courtesy visit on the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abuja.
While stressing that the EU observers had been in the country since November 2014 in order to monitor the primaries of political parties, Fisas added that over 90 observers have been deployed to monitor the forthcoming election in all the states of the federation except the North-Eastern states.
“We have been here since mid-November for observations. We followed the primaries, election propaganda, media and possible claims after the election. Over 90 observers have been deployed by the EU to monitor the forthcoming election in all the states; for security reasons, unfortunately, we can’t deploy into the North-East region,” he said.
Fisas, who expressed his support for the Abuja Peace Accord, stressed that the EU would not interfere in the process of electioneering.
“We apply international rules for the election; that means we must be neutral. We don’t interfere at all as a mission,” Fisas added.
WhatsApp us