Obasanjo promises peaceful polls
2006-09-27 07:23
Abuja - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday assured the international community of a successful transition next year after peaceful and transparent elections, said a statement.
He said: "I have no doubt whatsoever that we will have a successful transition." The president was speaking while receiving the letters of credence of the new Netherlands ambassador to Nigeria, Arie Van Der Wiel.
According to the statement from his office, Obasanjo said: "For the first time since independence in 1960, Nigeria will have a transition from one government to another and from one personality to another."
Presidential and general elections were scheduled for April next year.
Nigeria 'has crucial role to play'
Obasanjo said the arrangements towards the elections were underway and there would be more political activities after the Muslim Ramadan fasting period, when most of the parties would hold congresses and conventions, ahead of the start of campaigns early in 2007.
He said that Nigeria had a very crucial role to play if Africa would succeed, adding that "we have put in place far-reaching reforms to take us into the future, though it is not easy".
Wiel told Obasanjo that his stay in Mozambique and Ghana had shown him that the African continent was looking up to Nigeria. He said his country was ready to co-operate with Nigeria, especially in agriculture.
Obasanjo also received the letters of credence of two other new ambassadors: Suleiman Dedefo Woshe of Ethiopia and Xu Jianguo of China.
He told Jianguo that China and Nigeria, being the largest countries respectively in Asia and Africa should be close friends and partners, saying that "China has the right heart towards Africa".
He also assured Woshe that his country's request for Nigerian teachers for its 13 proposed new universities would be met.