stolen in Nigeria, describing the last Presidential election as a sham and
not credible.At an interactive session with constituents from Virginia who paid him a
visit on Capitol Hill, the Democratic congressman and member of the
Foreign Affairs Committee had been asked questions about Nigeria and
Venezuela.The United States lawmaker made the remarks about Nigeria’s elections when
he was responding to a question from international human rights lawyer,
Emmanuel Ogebe who asked what the US was doing about ISIS relocation to
Nigeria where they abducted Leah Sharibu and the recent presidential
elections.
Congressman Connolly said that many observers agree that the Nigerian
elections were not credible.
He said that the US must do more and wasn’t doing enough as a beacon of
democracy and human rights.
“There were a lot of observers who would agree with you that the recent
presidential/National Assembly elections were a sham and were not honest
and did not produce legitimate results. Are there enough people who care
about that to speak out? …We have to do a better job of paying much more
attention to Africa… Africa is going to be the continent of the future.”
He lamented the activities of Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and other terrorist
groups on the African continent and said the US was not paying adequate
attention to Africa.
He also raised concerns on growing Chinese influence in the region.
Responding to another question, he said: “Elections are being stolen in
Nigeria”.