It is undoubtedly certain that the former President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma has been hanging on air as he attends meetings and conferences hosted by the West Africa Elders Forum (WAEF) for a while now.

Ahead of Nigeria’s presidential elections which are scheduled on the 25th February 2023, Ernest Bai Koroma is currently in Nigeria as WAEF elders put heads together in finding ways of having a peaceful and fair elections for Nigerians come February 2023.

On his arrival at the Pre-election Assessment meeting in Abuja, Ernest Bai Koroma led the forum and had conversations with a cross section of Abuja based civil society organisations. YIAGA Africa, the Centre for Democracy and Development, the Situation Room for Nigerian Civil Society, the Policy and Legislative Advocacy Centre, the Nigerian Women Trust Fund, the Women’s Right Advocacy and Protection Alternative, and the CLEEN Foundation participated in the meeting at the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GEJ) headquarters.

The WAEF delegation spoke with the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, as well as the entire roster of commissioners and senior cadre of staff at the Independent National Electoral Commission. All of the discussions were quite enlightening and gave the team a vivid image of INEC’s readiness as well as the issues that stakeholders are worried about.

Also at the GEJ headquartre, the delegation met with former Governor of Anambra State and the presidential aspirant of the Labour Party Mr Peter Obi, along with his party chair, Julius Abare. Mr Obi emphasized on the need for peaceful, credible, inclusive and transparent elections.

The group acknowledged the enormous logistical difficulties involved in holding Nigeria’s presidential elections. In light of the fact that Nigeria has 20 million more registered voters overall than the rest of West Africa, the explanation is not implausible. In more than 146,000 polling places spread across 491 constituencies, more than 94 million people have registered to vote for the elections in February 2023.

Therefore, the WAEF delegation applauded INEC’s commitment to using technology efficiently, especially throughout the crucial stages of results transmission and publication. Furthermore, WAEF cited INEC’s assurances that the concerns of the stakeholders are being taken into consideration and that every qualified voter will be granted the right to participate in peaceful, transparent, inclusive, and credible elections.

With numerous meetings the body has held for peaceful elections in West Africa, and tackling challenging issues affecting the sub-region, WAEF urged all registrants to endeavour to collect their Personal Voters Card (PVC) from 12 December to 22 January as stipulated by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This the body continued to encourage the Commission to increase the number of PVC collection points within the country.

In order to ensure a smooth transition, WAEF has stated its intention to continue cooperating with the Commission and other stakeholders before, during, and after the elections. Former vice president of the Gambia Fatoumata Tambajah and former director of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, were both members of the Forum mission, which was headed by former president of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma.