Ahead of the coming elections in Edo and Ondo, The United Kingdom (UK) announced Tuesday, that Nigerians responsible for electoral malpractices will be met with strong international sanctions. A statement by the British High Commission in Nigeria stated that several election observers will be deployed on monitoring missions for the upcoming governorship elections in the respective states.

According to the statement, anyone found guilty of sponsoring electoral violence could face visa restrictions. The statement further emphasised that a restriction will also be placed on their UK-owned assets. This is coming hours after the United States had announced an imposed visa restrictions on some Nigerians involved in undermining democracy during the November 2019 Kogi and Bayelsa states elections in the run-up to the September and October 2020 Edo and Ondo state elections.

British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Catriona Laing, had earlier met with party leaders to rehash the importance of non-violence in the upcoming governorship elections across Edo and Ondo, with the meetings chiefly focused on the need for party leaders to caution supporters to avoid violence during the elections.

With barely 72 hours to the Edo election and less than a month to the Ondo election, the attention around them has greatly gotten the world talking. With everyone clamouring for a peaceful, free and fair election, Nigerians can only hope that political actors play by the rules – if not for Nigerians, then, of course, for the sake of their ‘pass’ to medical tourism, vacation and even properties abroad.

Good development? What do you think?