UK Collates Names Of ‘Anti-Democratic’ Individuals

The United Kingdom Government has said it is collating relevant information against individuals who engaged in electoral violence and other democratic behaviors in the March 18th gubernatorial and State House of Assembly elections in Nigeria.

In a statement on Wednesday, British High Commission said actions such as UK visa ban will be imposed on such individuals.

The UK’s statement came hours after the United States Government threatened to impose a visa ban on individuals involved in electoral violence.

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The statement was signed by the Senior Communications and Public Diplomacy Officer, Atinuke Akande-Alegbe.

“The UK Minister of State for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell MP, said on 21 February, that the UK is prepared to take action against those who engage in or incite electoral violence and other anti-democratic behaviours, and action could include preventing people from obtaining UK visas or imposing sanctions under our human rights sanctions regime.

“We can confirm that we are collating relevant information, with a view to taking action against some individuals,” the statement read.

The Commission said members of its observatory team observed violence, and voter suppression in numerous voting locations on Saturday.

“We witnessed and received credible reports from other observer missions and civil society organisations of vote buying and voter intimidation the destruction and hijacking of election materials and the general disruption of the process in numerous states including Lagos, Enugu and Rivers.

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“In addition, we observed incidents of harassment of journalists. Freedom of speech and a free press are crucial for a healthy democracy, and journalists must be able to go about their work without being threatened.

“The UK is concerned by the use of inflammatory ethno-religious language by some public and political figures. We call on all leaders not just to distance themselves from this kind of language, but to prevent those who speak on their behalf from doing so in this way,” the statement added.

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