Former Lagos State gubernatorial aspirant and Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro, has commended the Ghanaian government, the Electoral Commission of Ghana, the political parties, and all Ghanaians for conducting a peaceful election on December 7, 2008.
In a press meeting on December 8, at the High Commission in Accra, he said: "The people were orderly about the voting exercise. In some cases, electoral officials and voters even prayed before they started."
The High Commissioner said that Nigeria supported the election process by donating five Hilux vehicles to the Electoral Commission of Ghana to facilitate transportation of voting materials.
"I really commend the use of simple plastic ballot boxes and the use of schools as polling centres in Ghana," he said. "In Nigeria, we have wasted millions of naira buying expensive polling booths which are useless afterwards. We spend so much money to bring credibility to the Nigerian elections, money which can be used for other more important issues. A lot of money is also spent on litigation after elections when one party is not convinced of the credibility of the election exercise."
"In Nigeria, we must go beyond the idea that only a professor or someone highly educated can run INEC. If a school principal has the honesty, transparency and discipline to do the job, then so be it. I am happy that the president of Nigeria is committed to reforms and I hope that this will lead to the appointment of the right people in leadership positions. I believe that our democracy cannot progress if we lack credible elections."
When asked about his views on the campaign so far, he said: "To a large extent the primaries were well conducted. The parties had an open primary and people won based on their popularity and nothing else. The idea of ‘godfatherism' is not as prevalent here as it is in Nigeria."
"The media must brace up to ensure free and fair elections. The media has a major role to play. I want to really emphasize that. But they must first cleanse themselves of the problems facing Nigerians because the average politician in Nigeria is a reflection of the society."