Britain commends resolution of electoral disputes through Court pronouncements

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The United Kingdom has commended political parties’ recourse to the Jusdiciary to settle disputes arising from the conduct of the 2023 general elections.he British High Commission to Nigeria, Dr Richard Montgomery, gave the commendation on Tuesday at a meeting with the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress.

He said:” We have discussed a number of the legal issues present in the political domain at federal and state level. And it’s important for us as a diplomatic mission to understand how those processes are playing out. And they are very admiring of the way that Nigeria is using the courts to settle disputes of elections at every level when they occur. And we appreciate that process.”

Speaking on the forthcoming off-season governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states, Mr. Montgomery said the United Kingdom would take more than passing interest in the November election in the three states.

“Your Excellency and distinguished members of the National Working Committee. It’s a great pleasure to meet you. And thank you for the introduction of myself and my team. Your Excellency, I want to start by giving you my congratulations on your appointment as the chairman of this great national party.

“And as I explained in our private meeting earlier, I as British High Commissioner have a role to understand the politics of this great country and to engage with the political parties to understand both the priorities and the challenges and opportunities of the political process in Nigeria so that I can understand your great country better and explain it to my ministers back in London and so it’s been a great pleasure to come and call on you give you my personal congratulations but also understand your perspectives on a number of issues. “

In his response, National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who thanked the British Government for its sustained interest in development in Nigeria said being a former colony of the British, Nigeria has a lot to learn from the former regarding management of the democratic process.

“We are so pleased to have you especially that the relationship between Britain and Nigeria is a long history. You are our colonial masters. We got our independence from you, you know our country. Even though things are dynamic, things are changing. But since independence during independence up to this moment, we always have a representative for the UK in Nigeria. So, I will not take much time to tell you who we are because you know who we are.

“Let us know that we started with a political system similar to yours because we borrowed from you and you assist us. After having independence, you assisted us to form political parties. And to conduct elections during that time.

“We thank you for coming and we are looking forward to have stronger ties. And we’re looking forward to learn more from you because you have older political institutions than our own country. You have seen it all but our own is an evolutionary one, which we want to take our institution to a much higher level to a strong level, anything you do without having a strong institution then it collapses after some time, but we have to have a high degree of sustainability of our institution. “

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