2011 Election Will Be ‘Significantly Better’ – Ex U.S. Envoy

A former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Campbell believes the 2011 election in Nigeria will be “significantly better’” than the polls in 2007 and 2003.

Campbell spoke to the North America correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in New York amid concerns that the electoral process could  be marred by recent upsurge of violence and bomb blasts in some parts of the country.

NAN reports that Campbell, a senior fellow on Africa Policy Studies at the influential Washington-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), had  previously described past elections in Nigeria — 1999, 2003 and 2007, as worse than the other.

He, however, said the U.S. Government had reasons to hope that this year’s election would be “a reversal of the downward spiral.”

“I will recall that we (the U.S.) received the same assurances of free, fair and credible elections before the elections of 2007.

“What is different now I think, is that the Chairman of the INEC is a person who commands wide respect and has a very realistic view about what the  challenges are.

“Chairman Attahiru Jega has said repeatedly that free, fair and credible elections are the responsibility of the whole country not just of INEC.

“Now the challenges of holding national elections in Nigeria are formidable.

“For example, a new electoral law is required and the establishment of polling places in an enormous country with many places of under-developed  infrastructure, that has to be done.

“There is indeed violence in the many places that you have made reference to, as someone who loves Nigeria, what I am looking for are elections, if not  perfect, are significantly better than the elections of 2007 and 2003.

“So, if the elections of 2011 are significantly better than those of 2007 and 2003, then the elections of 2015 may be significantly better than those of  2011. That would be very positive from my perspective,” he said.

According to Campbell, the Obama Administration has utilised some preventive options to forestall electoral violence in Nigeria.

“It has been forthright in its denunciation of violence in Nigeria,” he said, referring to the White House statement on the bombings in Abuja on the New Year  eve. According to him, the U.S. Government has also provided support for various Nigerian civil organisations that are working for improved elections.

“The international community however, including the U.S. cannot manage Nigeria’s elections, that is something that the Nigerians will have to do.

“We can help at the margins and we are doing so, but free, fair and non-violent elections are the responsibility of Nigerians,” he added.

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