The Chairperson of the National Elections Commission, Madam Davidetta Browne Lansanah is currently in the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the invitation of the ECOWAS Commission on an ECOWAS Pre-Election Fact Finding Mission from 21 October to 12 November 2022.
The Fact-Finding Mission is in line with the Additional Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance (2001) which provides for ECOWAS assistance to member states organizing elections.
A NEC release said, the objective of the mission, among other things, is to collect all the legal texts governing the conduct of the General Elections in Nigeria, collect information on the conditions under which the elections shall be conducted, gather all pertinent information regarding the candidates and political parties involved in the contest, meet the candidates, political party leaders, government officials and other relevant stakeholders, among others.
The NEC statement issued Monday, 7 November 2022 said, Former Head of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Ghan is the head of the delegation.
Other members of the delegation are:Mr. Mohammed K. Konneh, Chief Electoral Officer, NEC Sierra Leone,Dr. Remi Ajibewa, Director, Political Affairs, ECOWAS and Dr. Francis Gabriel Oke, PPO, EAD, ECOWAS, among others
According to a dispatch from Nigeria, the Mission has traveled to a number of States in Nigeria including, Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Kano, Maidu Guri, Port Harcourt, River State and held discussions with major stakeholders in the 2023 Elections to include Civil Society, Political Parties, Security Institutions, the Media, INEC, etc. to ascertain facts around preparedness for and Security for the Nigerian Elections which is scheduled for February 25, 2023.
