The Commonwealth of Nations on Monday assured of its neutrality in the forthcoming elections as it deployed its monitoring team.
The Commonwealth Election Monitoring Team comprises of 16 high-calibre officers from different member-nations including politicians, diplomats and experts in law, human rights, gender equality and election administration.
The leader of the team and former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, at a press conference in Abuja, described the elections as Africa’s largest democratic exercise.
According to him, the outcome of the election would be significant, not only for Nigeria, but also for the entire continent.
The CEMT pledged to provide an impartial and independent assessment of the electoral process, which it said, would be communicated through a preliminary statement on February 27.
Mbeki said, “We, therefore, urge all stakeholders in Nigeria to uphold their commitment to ensure a peaceful and inclusive election in which the people of Nigeria are able to freely exercise their right to vote, with the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly fully respected.
“Our mandate is to observe and assess the pre-election period, activities on polling day and the post-election period.
