Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ghanaian President elect, John Dramani Mahama
Following embarrassing and undemocratic utterances by General
Olusegun Obasanjo at yesterday’s meeting of the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS), the leadership of the commission today
held a review meeting that could end the possibility of future election
observation on its behalf by the former Nigerian leader.
As reported yesterday, Obasanjo was the figure behind
the recommendation of the ECOWAS observation team to curtail the media
in election observation that contradicts the position of ECOWAS and
other international democracy observers.
A senior ECOWAS official said of today’s development, “Our meeting
this evening has resolved, and this will be communicated to the
political leadership of ECOWAS, that Chief Obasanjo should be saved the
trouble of trying to give what he doesn't have.”
He said the review was necessitated by the negative reaction
generated by General Obasanjo's role in the observation mission and the
potential for it to undermine the credibility of ECOWAS in future
observation missions.
According to the senior officer, “You know Obasanjo is a loose
cannon. He becomes uncontrollable once bestowed with power. We regret
this appointment and vowed never to have the man invited to head
missions again.
“ECOWAS was only fortunate to have [been] at an election of an
advanced and stable democracy. Were it to be a volatile country, his
disposition, recommendations and utterances are not only capable of
truncating the electoral process, they are capable of jeopardizing the
security and safety of our 250 monitors mobilized from across the
sub-region.”
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