TheCable

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) says the final peace accord signed by presidential candidates ahead of the February 16 election is a “very strong message” to Nigerians.

Maria Arena, chief observer, EU EOM, said this while speaking with state house correspondents, after she led the mission to a private meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osinabjo on Thursday in Abuja.

She said the participation of the two main contenders at the peace accord was significant.

President Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) alongside 70 other candidates signed the final peace accord on Wednesday.

According to Arena, EU EOM is in Nigeria to monitor the process before, during and after the election day.

She said Nigerians need to trust the electoral process and free to cast their votes.

“The different contact we had with public organisations here in Nigeria and also with the authority gave us information on the election process,” she said.

“We have a discussion today; first we say we have to congratulate Nigeria for signing the peace accord yesterday because it is a very strong message to the population, that all the political parties especially the two biggest presidential candidates took the commitment to have a peaceful process.

“We are here for this election and for Nigerians. It is important to have this strong message.

“We have also discussed different issues on our observations, because Nigerians need to have a transparency process.

“They need to trust the process; they need to be free to cast their votes during the election and this is just what we are going to observe as EU Observation Mission.”