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- Everyone Must Show Responsibility Amid Yar’ Adua’s Refurn – U.S
Everyone Must Show Responsibility Amid Yar’ Adua’s Refurn – U.S
- By Williams Ekanem
- Published March 1st, 2010
- Washington File
- Unrated
WITH the sudden arrival of President Umaru Yaradua to the country after three months absence on health grounds, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, United States Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs cautions that everyone must act responsibly.
Speaking to BusinessWorld on the implications of the sudden return, barely two weeks after the installation of an acting president by the National Assembly to move the country forward, Carson who was in Nigeria during the development and the first foreign official to meet with the acting president said, “Everyone needs to act responsibly as Nigeria needs to go forward and not backwards.”
The United States, he reiterated, is out to encourage responsible and thoughtful behavior of Nigerian leaders given the significance of the country in sub Saharan Africa. All efforts and activities of everyone in power in the country, he advised must be directed towards the commitment to strengthen democracy.
Also last week, the Ambassador briefed the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs on his five-day official visit to Nigeria.
Expressing hope that President Yaradau will fully recover, he told the Senators that “his prolonged absence has generated political uncertainty and has challenged Nigeria’s young democratic institutions.”
Carson reported to the Senate subcommittee on African Affairs that “the National Assembly’s resolution that officially designated Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President demonstrated Nigeria’s resolve to find a peaceful solution to the country’s leadership problem,” and commended Nigeria’s top elected political officials for pursuing a transparent process – one that has adhered closely to the principles of democracy and the rule of law.
America’s bilateral relationship with Nigeria, he said, remains strong, “and my recent visit to Nigeria underscored the continuing importance of Nigeria to the United States and the value of our bilateral relationship. It also provided me with an opportunity to discuss areas where the United States can engage with Nigeria on issues of importance to both countries.”
According to Carson, “In my meetings with a broad range of political, religious, and civil society leaders across Nigeria, I discussed the important role that elections play in democracy. I stressed that Nigeria’s next presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for April 2011 must be credible. They must be free, fair and transparent, and they must be a significant improvement over the country’s 2007 presidential elections — which were deeply flawed. I urged Nigeria’s leaders to make electoral reform one of Nigeria’s highest priorities. Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has performed poorly over the past decade and has not served the country well. INEC needs new and improved leadership if elections are to have real meaning in Nigeria.
Carson added that “I also discussed regional security issues with Nigerian leaders. Nigeria’s record on and commitment to regional peace and security is outstanding. Nigeria is one of the world’s largest contributors to UN peacekeeping missions and is the single largest troop contributors in Africa. It has fielded troops to trouble spots in West and Central Africa and to Darfur. Nigerian troops played a critical and central role in returning stability to Sierra Leone and Liberia.”
Speaking to BusinessWorld on the implications of the sudden return, barely two weeks after the installation of an acting president by the National Assembly to move the country forward, Carson who was in Nigeria during the development and the first foreign official to meet with the acting president said, “Everyone needs to act responsibly as Nigeria needs to go forward and not backwards.”
The United States, he reiterated, is out to encourage responsible and thoughtful behavior of Nigerian leaders given the significance of the country in sub Saharan Africa. All efforts and activities of everyone in power in the country, he advised must be directed towards the commitment to strengthen democracy.
Also last week, the Ambassador briefed the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs on his five-day official visit to Nigeria.
Expressing hope that President Yaradau will fully recover, he told the Senators that “his prolonged absence has generated political uncertainty and has challenged Nigeria’s young democratic institutions.”
Carson reported to the Senate subcommittee on African Affairs that “the National Assembly’s resolution that officially designated Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President demonstrated Nigeria’s resolve to find a peaceful solution to the country’s leadership problem,” and commended Nigeria’s top elected political officials for pursuing a transparent process – one that has adhered closely to the principles of democracy and the rule of law.
America’s bilateral relationship with Nigeria, he said, remains strong, “and my recent visit to Nigeria underscored the continuing importance of Nigeria to the United States and the value of our bilateral relationship. It also provided me with an opportunity to discuss areas where the United States can engage with Nigeria on issues of importance to both countries.”
According to Carson, “In my meetings with a broad range of political, religious, and civil society leaders across Nigeria, I discussed the important role that elections play in democracy. I stressed that Nigeria’s next presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for April 2011 must be credible. They must be free, fair and transparent, and they must be a significant improvement over the country’s 2007 presidential elections — which were deeply flawed. I urged Nigeria’s leaders to make electoral reform one of Nigeria’s highest priorities. Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has performed poorly over the past decade and has not served the country well. INEC needs new and improved leadership if elections are to have real meaning in Nigeria.
Carson added that “I also discussed regional security issues with Nigerian leaders. Nigeria’s record on and commitment to regional peace and security is outstanding. Nigeria is one of the world’s largest contributors to UN peacekeeping missions and is the single largest troop contributors in Africa. It has fielded troops to trouble spots in West and Central Africa and to Darfur. Nigerian troops played a critical and central role in returning stability to Sierra Leone and Liberia.”
