Victor Akinkkuolie, Ado Ekiti
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Nigerians in diaspora have agreed with the position canvassed by the Federal Government of Nigeria that the international community has no business meddling in the politics of the nation.

They said the best way the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) could earn the respect of African nations, is by distancing themselves from the continent’s local politics and allow individual countries to play their politics in a manner devoid of interferences.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti from Washington DC, USA on Sunday, the Nigerians under the aegis of the Nigeria Coalition for Change, appealed to the international community to be neutral, in order not to allow democracy in the country from being truncated. The statement signed by the group’s Chairman,  Mr. Samuel Ayodele , Secretary, Alhaji Ali Abubakar Sadiq and Diaspora Coordinator, Mr. Julius Adewumi, appreciated the US and EU for their tremendous contributions to towards stabilising Nigeria politically and allowing democracy to grow.

The Nigerian professionals warned that allowing Nigerians to have the feelings that these respectable international bodies are interfering in the local politics of the country could create friction and diplomatic crisis that could lead to frosty relationship with the Nigerian nation.

“We, Nigerians in the diaspora, appreciate the US and EU’s pivotal roles in building democracy in Nigeria. But Nigeria is a nation that is democratically sophisticated, that will not condone undue interference, particularly in their politics and the international community must take cognizance of this fact which must remain sacrosanct.

“The international community has shown commitments to voter education in Nigeria, spending millions of dollars to propagate the ideal of free, fair and credible elections, and this is how far they can go, because displaying body languages that suggest that they have preferences among presidential contenders may result into diplomatic crisis.

“We will appreciate the US and EU if they can restrict themselves to ensuring that the polls are credible, rather than showing preference among the political actors in order to ensure that the diplomatic ties with Nigeria remain strong and unshaken”.

The group also appealed to the electorate to shun vote buying in the coming elections, as voting the right candidate remains the best way to safeguard the future of the country saying allowing politicians with ill-gotten wealth to buy their ways into sensitive elective positions would further debase governance and increase the sufferings of the Nigerian masses.

“The worst trait that had conspicuously characterized our elections in recent times was the case of vote buying. Politicians without integrity but with obscene wealth’s fondly induced poor voters with money ranging from N200 to N5,000 per voter depending on bargaining power.

“A nation that looks the other way as voters are bought, is undermining its democracy with no prospect of good governance. So, it is expedient for our people to resist such temptation in the upcoming elections”.

“We fervently look forward to free, fair and peaceful elections in the coming few weeks and look forward to having voters elect the right candidates into the offices of President, Governors and legislators across the country”