Democracy Backsliding In West Africa — UK

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has lamented the decline of democracy in the West African region.

Laing who stated this when she met leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja yesterday, added that the world will be watching how Nigeria conducts the forthcoming 2023 general elections.

The high commissioner however charged the party to strive to ensure that young people are encouraged to participate in the electoral process.

There have been coups in Guinea-Bissau; Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger and Mali between May 24, 2021 to February 1, 2022.

Laing said “One of the challenges in Nigeria has been low turnout, you know, what we can do collectively to inspire the youth to believe in their politics and in the future of their country. We look forward to seeing how much this election matters.

“Nigeria has been on the democratic journey since 1999. And that, in itself, is something to be very proud of. You’re in a region, unfortunately, where democracy is backsliding. I know in Nigeria, your president has taken a very clear forward position on that, and in ECOWAS and so on.

The world will be watching this election, and hoping it goes well. So it matters, obviously, for the people of Nigeria, it matters for Africa, and it matters for the world. You’re one of the largest democracies globally. And we want you to stay (part) of that global community.

“That’s a very important objective for our government to talk about building a network of liberty like minded countries and also a democratic Global Alliance. That’s our hope and aspiration for Nigeria,” she said.

On his part, the national chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, however urged the international community not to lose faith in Nigeria, adding that the party is working on a manifesto that will rescue and rebuild Nigeria when the party returns to power in 2023.

“We are currently working on our manifesto to make sure that we return to those days of building the economy or tackling the issue of security which is today ravaging the country.

“We believe there’s a lot that those of you, who are friends of this country can do to help.

Very have already set up a committee working on the party’s manifesto with details on virtually everything, on the economy, on foreign relations, on agriculture, on securities issues.

“When it is ready, we want to share what we stand for that is different from the other parties. We ’ll be sharing our manifesto to our friends across the world.

“We believe Nigerians will accept and support us. We believe we are going to win the next election by 2023 and have PDP as president.

“Therefore, I have no doubt and I don’t want any of our friends in the international community to have any doubts about the future in spite of all the challenges. We are very, very sure that we are going to turn this around and that is why our current mantra is to rescue and rebuild Nigeria.

“So we hope you will join us on the journey to rescue and to rebuild this country. You must continue to have faith in this country. Nigeria is going to continue to be a great country. Thank you for your closing statements that we should take our rightful place in the committee of nations,” Ayu said.