Gerald Connolly |
American Congressman, Gerald Connolly, has bemoaned manipulation of
elections in Nigeria, claiming they were a sham and not credible.
At an interactive session yesterday with constituents from Virginia
who paid him a visit on Capitol Hill, the Democratic congressman and
member of the Foreign Affairs Committee had been asked questions about
Nigeria and Venezuela.
The United States lawmaker made the remarks about Nigeria’s elections
when he was responding to a question from international human rights
lawyer, Emmanuel Ogebe who asked what the US was doing about ISIS
relocation to Nigeria where they abducted Leah Sharibu and the recent
presidential elections.
Congressman Connolly said that many observers agree that the Nigerian elections were not credible.
He said that the US must do more and wasn’t doing enough as a beacon of democracy and human rights.
“There were a lot of observers who would agree with you that the
recent presidential/National Assembly elections were a sham and were not
honest and did not produce legitimate results. Are there enough people
who care about that to speak out? …We have to do a better job of paying
much more attention to Africa… Africa is going to be the continent of
the future.”
He lamented the activities of Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and other
terrorist groups on the African continent and said the US was not paying
adequate attention to Africa.
He also raised concerns on growing Chinese influence in the region.
Responding to another question, he said: “Elections are being stolen in Nigeria”.
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