Elections 2007 No skeletons in our cupboards  …Obasanjo tells foreign observers

From: KABIRU YUSUF, Abuja

President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday, said in Abuja that Nigeria would not object to having foreign election observers in the country for the April general elections, adding that Nigeria would welcome anybody wishing to come as it has nothing to hide.
Obasanjo stated this when he received the credentials of the new Ambassador of the European Union (EU) Commission, Mr. Robert Van-Der Meulen at the State House, yesterday.
“We take the election very seriously to promote peace, harmony, transparency, and build a model for future elections,” President Obasanjo said.
He appealed to foreign observers to take the trouble to “study the terrain and appreciate the realities on ground rather than taking things on their face value, and listening to those who cry wolf where there is none.”
Presenting his credentials, Mr. Meulen commended Nigeria ’s preparations for the elections, as he expressed the EU’s intention to deploy 200 short and long-term observers for the general elections.
The EU Ambassador noted that the presence of foreign observers would give a stamp of global approval to the elections, and called for the institutionalizing of political dialogue between the EU and Nigeria .