FREDRICK Opare Ansah, Member of Parliament for Suhum Constituency in the Eastern Region is currently in Nigeria, as part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Mission to observe the upcoming general elections that will be held tomorrow 16th of February.
The Suhum MP, Fredrick Opare Ansah who is also a member of the ECOWAS Parliament, together with his team since their arrival at Nigeria have been in Ebonyi State where they have been interacting with the Commissioner of Police and other security agencies.
They also had the opportunity to inspect the distribution of nonsensitive electoral materials and interact with the Resident Electoral Commissioner.
Frederick Opare Ansah, who is among other four Ghanaian MPs have since been stationed in Enugu State covering the South Eastern states of Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, and Imo as well as the North Central State of Benue.
The other Ghanaian Lawmakers in the team are; Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Mahama Ayarega and Ama Pomaah Boateng.
So far the INEC together with IPAC has drawn up and operationalized a good plan covering operational deployment, security, and training of personnel to ensure very free, fair and credible elections.
The Members of the House of Representatives had the opportunity to witness the distribution of non-sensitive electoral materials from the offices of INEC to the various local government areas.
The ECOWAS mission will also visit some key cities around Nigeria outside of the capital city Abuja, Nigeria which is the biggest economy in West Africa goes to the polls.
Meanwhile, the head of the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Nigeria Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has expressed confidence that Nigeria will successfully go through its forthcoming general elections drawing strength from its resilience and the support of her friends.
Madam Sirleaf who is the former president of Liberia gave her optimism at a briefing for the observers at the ECOWAS Commission Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, on the 14th of February 2019.
She stated that although the elections are coming on the heels of nagging security challenges and tensed political environment, the exercise “not only constitutes an impetus in consolidating democracy in the most populous nation in Africa, but the outcome will also, to a large extent, impact on the socio-economic, political and security order of the region, given Nigeria’s strategic position and influence”.
The ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions which is currently being headed by the INEC Commissioner, Mahmood Yakubu was established in 2008 to increase synergy, cooperation and experience sharing among the Member States in order to promote democracy and good governance in the region.
Source: The Evening Mail
