The Head of the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission (EOM), former Ghanaian president John Kufuor has commended Nigerian voters for their enthusiasm and commitment to deepening democracy in their country, and by extension, the region.

“Going by the orderliness exhibited by the voters, it is clear that Nigerian electorate are determined and committed to strengthening democracy in their country,” the chairman said during visits to some polling stations in the nation’s capital Abuja, as Nigerians turned out to choose their president and National legislators on Saturday, 28^th March 2015.

Accompanied by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Kadré Desire Ouédraogo and other members of election technical support team, the Head of the Observation Mission visited voting centres at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in Kubwa, the LEA Primary School and Junior Secondary School on Airport road at Lugbe and Galadimawa, as well as the Post Office polling centre at Area 10, Garki, and Asokoro 111 near the ECOWAS Commission headquarters.

While there was late commencement of accreditation of voters due to the late arrival of electoral officials and materials at some centres, the ECOWAS delegation observed that the voters waited patiently on the queues and even initiated the allotment of numbers to facilitate the process when it finally began.

Former president Kufuor acknowledged this proactive initiative by the voters, and commended officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who were putting in their best to cope with the large number of voters that turned out for the exercise at the centres visited.

He interacted with the media on the field noting that it was too early to assess the process.

His team later visited the ECOWAS election Situation Room at Niger House, in Central Area, Abuja where the technical team is receiving reports from the 250 observers deployed by the Commission in five of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones to monitor the polls.

The ECOWAS Observation Mission is expected to issue its Preliminary Declaration the presidential elections on Sunday 29^th March 2015.