By John Ikani
With 91 days to the first round of Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, the United Kingdom (UK) says it will use its visa programme to punish Nigerian politicians involved in electoral violence during and after the 2023 general elections, either directly or indirectly.
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing made this known when she led a team to a meeting with the National Working Committee members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja.
According to her: “We do have sanctions in the form of our Visa programme. We will also be watching closely any individual who acts violently or incites people through the social media. We do have the possibility of using our Visas as sanction by removing peoples rights to visit UK.
“We will be watching closely. These apply to all the political parties, not just the parties alone, but security officials and anybody who might be in that position.”
Laing expressed optimism that with the new electoral law which she said was supported by the UK government, the 2023 elections will be free and fair.
She went on to commended Nigerian youth for coming out to register during registration, and expressed the hope that they would turn out to vote on the day of election.
“That is a real positive and we hope that they would turn out to vote on the day of election, because it will make the election much more credible,” she said.
In his remarks, PDP National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, expressed optimism that PDP would return to power in 2023, saying Nigerians are waiting for the PDP.
Anyanwu said the PDP believed that with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) introduced by INEC, the 2023 general election would not be business as usual.
“That is why we keep praying for INEC to maintain what they have promised Nigerians and when that is done we will find out that our party is in top gear.’’
Anyanwu, while expressing PDP’s commitment to issue-based and peaceful campaign, decried recent attacks on PDP rallies in Kaduna and Borno States.
