March 28 Election, Most Important In Africa – US

Sean Mclntosh, Press Attache of the United States Embassy in Abuja has described the upcoming March 28 Presidential election in Nigeria as the most important on the African continent.

McIntosh who stated this during a familiarisation visit to the Lagos corporate headquarters of TELL Communications Limited, publishers of TELL and BroadStreet Journal, BSJ, said the election is important because, Nigeria, apart from being the most populous nation on the continent, is also its biggest economy.

In view of this, he said, should there be any violence in Nigeria after the elections, the impact would be enormous not only on Nigerian citizens but also on the African continent as a whole.

As the country goes to the polls, he said the US, whose relations with Nigeria “is not dismantled yet,” would continue to support Nigeria, including in the fight against insurgency.

During the visit, Mclntosh, who was received by a team of TELL editors, spoke on his impression of the Nigerian media and urged that the US would want to see a peaceful election devoid of the violence that ensued after the 2011 general elections in Nigeria. He said though the 2011 elections were free and fair compared to previous ones, the crisis, which claimed several lives questioned the credibility of the exercise.

The US embassy spokesman was accompanied on the visit by Temitayo Famutimi, information specialist in the Public Affairs section of the US consulate general,