The United States (US) Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, on Sunday, March 29, 2015 expressed his satisfaction with the peaceful conduct of federal elections in Nigeria over the weekend.
Speaking to newsmen at the presidential election collation centre in Abuja, Entwistle said he was impressed with the turnout and general conduct of the electorate during the electioneering process.
He said: “I was extremely impressed yesterday. I went around to a number of places in the FCT. Every place I went, I was impressed by the patience and dedication of the Nigerian voters.”
“The fact that they were willing to stand in line for hours and hours, in the heat and in the sun so that they can exercise their democratic rights to vote; personally I found that inspirational.
“My congratulations to the Nigerian voters. They have reminded us all about what a beautiful thing democracy is. The expectation of my government is that the Nigerian people will win. And by that I mean they will get what they want, which is a transparent, credible and non-violent election. And we look forward to working with whatever government emerges from this election.”
On the issue of card readers, Entwistle said: “ I was very impressed about the decision by INEC to use technology in this election. I will tell you something; the PVCs are very hi-tech. They are more hi-tech than my voter card from the state of Virginia in the US. My voter card does not have my biometric, it does not have my fingerprint. So I was very impressed by the decision to go hi-tech because hi-tech, I think, gives the process more integrity.
“Yesterday all of you were around, you saw that in some places the card readers did not work but the decision to use the card readers in my view was absolutely correct.
“Fortunes favour the bold and you need to try in this world. Deciding to go hi-tech was a good thing. I am sure INEC would sit down, look at what happened to the card readers, solve those problems and move forward. But I congratulate INEC for taking the path of hi-tech in this election. I am very impressed. I think we need to come and study it and use it in our country.”
