Nigerians’ will must prevail, says U.S.

United States Ambassador to Nigeria James Eintwistle yesterday said the expectation of America in the presidential election is for the will of Nigerians to prevail.

He praised the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) for adopting Card Readers to protect  the integrity of the ballot.

He said the U.S. might also  learn from Nigeria by using Card Readers in its future poll.

Eintwistle, who spoke with reporters at the National Collation Centre in Abuja, said he was impressed by the turnout for the presidential and National Assembly elections.

He said: “I was extremely impressed. Yesterday, I went around to a number of places in the FCT. Every place I went, I was impressed by the patience and dedication of the Nigerian voters.

“The fact that they were willing to stand in line for hours and hours, in the heat and in the sun so that they can exercise their democratic rights to vote, personally, I found that inspirational.

“My congratulations to the Nigerian voters.  They have reminded us all about what a beautiful thing democracy is.”

The Ambassador added: “The expectation of my government is that the Nigerian peoples will win. And by that,  I mean they will get what they want, which is a transparent, credible and non-violent election. And we look forward to working with whatever government emerges from this election.”

On issues raised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the conduct of the polls, he said:”The APC can speak for itself. I have no comment on any political statement so far.”

Eintwistle, however, praised the deployment of Card Readers.

He said: “ I was very impressed about the decision by INEC to use technology in this election . I will tell you something, the PVCs are very hi-tech. They are more hi-tech than my voter card from the State of Virginia in the U.S.

“My voter card does not have my biometric,  it does not have my fingerprint. So, I was very impressed by the decision to go hi-tech because hi-tech, I think, gives the process more integrity.”

On the failure of Card Readers in some states, Eintwistle said INEC should look at what went wrong and correct the lapses.

He said: “Yesterday, all of you were around  and you saw that in some places, the card readers did not work. But  the decision to use the card readers, in my view, was absolutely correct. Fortunes favour the bold and you need to try in this world. Deciding to go hi-tech was a good thing. I am sure INEC would sit down, look at what happened to the card readers, solve those problems and move forward. But I congratulate INEC for taking the path of hi-tech in this election. I am very   impressed. I think we need to come and study it and use it in our country.”