President Muhammadu Buhari has sent Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, as special envoy to Guinea Bissau ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections in the country.
The Special Assistant on Media to the Minister, Sarah Sanda, stated this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
She said the minister was accompanied by the president of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean Brou.
According to Ms Sanda, Mr Onyeama who was also in company with the representative of the Chairman, ECOWAS Mediation Committee on Guinea Bissau, President Alpha Conde of Guinea Conakry, met with key stakeholders, including President Jose Vaz.
She said that while receiving the special envoy, Mr Vaz handed over a letter for onward delivery to Mr Buhari, congratulating him on his re-election.
The visit by the ECOWAS team is the 5th so far led by Mr Onyeama as a special envoy of ECOWAS Chairman, President Buhari, to engage stakeholders in the country which has been engulfed in a long drawn political crisis.
She quoted Mr Onyeama as explaining after a meeting with Prime Minister Aristedes Gomes that the issues surrounding the blank electoral roll in some areas had been resolved.
Mr Onyeama said that although the elections had been postponed before, ECOWAS Chairman was determined to ensure that all obstacles towards free, fair and credible elections in Guinea Bissau were removed.
“We are sent as Special Envoy of President Muhammadu Buhari who, as you know, is the current Chair of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.
“We are here again to find out the situation with regards to the elections. We are happy we met with the President, Prime Minister and Chairman of the electoral commission.
“We were able to see and learn first-hand, the fantastic progress made towards holding the legislative elections on Sunday, March 10. All the technical aspects are fully in order.
“The voters’ electoral roll is now complete; all the 761,000 or so voters are on a roll; the security situation is good.
“The political situation with all the parties is excellent; everybody is fully on board, so it is very heart-warming,” he said.
The minister congratulated the president, prime minister, all the political parties and all stakeholders, including the Electoral Commission, for the excellent work that had been done.
He said: “the president has just assured us that come Sunday, March 10, the elections will take place.
“This will be the first peaceful elections in Guinea Bissau for many, many years so that it will be a watershed – a decisive moment in the history of Guinea Bissau.”
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