President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Abuja assured the United
\nKingdom (UK) Prime Minister, Theresa May of his commitment to conducting
\nfree, fair and credible elections in 2019.<\/p>\n
He made the remark during a bilateral meeting with the visiting Prime
\nMinister at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.<\/p>\n
President Buhari, according to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media
\nand publicity, Femi Adesina, welcomed UK\u2019s support at strengthening
\ndemocratic institutions in the country.<\/p>\n
He said \u2018\u2018I assure you that I\u2019m all out for free, fair and credible
\nelections. I\u2019m very pleased that my party is doing very well. The High
\nCommissioner will brief you more. The recent successes in polls in
\nKatsina, Bauchi, and Kogi have boosted our morale greatly.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Nigeria has accepted multiparty democracy and that is putting
\npoliticians on their toes, forcing them to work harder,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
On the anti-corruption campaign, the President applauded the British
\nsupport to the country, noting that the success of the fight was very
\nimportant to ordinary people in the country.<\/p>\n
He went on \u201cWe had great opportunities and resources between 1999 and
\n2014, due to high oil prices. But when we came in 2015, oil prices plunged
\nto as low as 37 dollars per barrel.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018What we have been doing since 2015 is to focus on infrastructure
\ndevelopment, despite low earnings. Work is ongoing in roads, rail, power,
\nand many others.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Brexit, President Buhari noted that it provides an opportunity to
\nstrengthen the historic ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We are nervously watching the development about Brexit because we know
\nthat the relationship had been on for a long time.\u00a0 I assure you that I am
\nprepared to strengthen the relationship between our two countries.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The President also thanked the UK government for the support on security
\nand the fight against insurgency in the North Eastern part of Nigeria, and
\nthe improved trade relations between both countries.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I am very grateful to the British government under you leadership for
\nthe help in security, particularly your training team that is in our
\ninstitution in Kaduna,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Speaking earlier before the bilateral meeting, the Nigerian leader
\nunderscored the need for UK support on reviving of Lake Chad, which is a
\nmeans of livelihood for millions of people.<\/p>\n
The President told the visiting Prime Minister that Europe and China were
\nalready conducting an in-depth study on recharging the Lake through
\ninter-basin transfer from the Central African Republic.<\/p>\n
In her remarks, Prime Minister Theresa May, who welcomed the assurance by
\nthe Nigerian government on credible elections in 2019, said she was
\npleased to be in Abuja to continue the \u2018\u2018excellent discussions\u2019\u2019 she
\nstarted with President Buhari in London in April, this year, particularly
\non security, trade, asset recovery and the fight against corruption.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Security and defence cooperation are very important steps to address
\nBoko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa,\u2019\u2019 May said.<\/p>\n
On asset recovery, the Prime Minister told President Buhari: \u2018\u2018We do not
\nwant to hold anything that belongs to Nigeria people, but we follow the
\njudicial process, which can be slow.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister appealed to President Buhari to use his position as
\nECOWAS Chair to keep the issue of human trafficking on the front burner in
\nthe sub-region.<\/p>\n
President Buhari and Prime Minister May witnessed the signing of two
\nagreements: Security and Defence Partnership and Economic Development
\nForum Agreement.<\/p>\n
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Abuja assured the United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister, Theresa May of his commitment to conducting free, fair and credible elections in 2019. He made…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n