Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN of Nigeria, who will be ending his tenure on May 29, has been appointed by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations to lead a team of “distinguished experts” in observing the general elections in Sierra Leone on June 24, the Commonwealth Group has said.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, in a statement on Thursday on the website of the Commonwealth Group, indicated that Prof Osinbajo had accepted the request to chair the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG).
The Secretary-General had appointed the observer group on invitation from the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone.
According to the statement on the Commonwealth website, “Prof Osinbajo is a Professor of Law and one of the nation’s leading legal experts, serving as Vice President of Nigeria since May 2015.
“He will be joined by recognised dignitaries from various fields including, politicians, legal, media, gender and election administration professionals from across the Commonwealth to carry out the task.”
The Secretary-General thanked Osinbajo for accepting to undertake “this important area of our work in deepening democracy across our Commonwealth – despite his busy schedule and overseeing a seamless transition of his government”.
The Commonwealth Group also disclosed Osinbajo’s acceptance to chair the Commonwealth Observer Group.
The Group cited the vice president to have stated: “I’m highly honoured by the unique opportunity to continue to bring my expertise and experience in contributing to deepening democracy especially in Africa, and the Commonwealth by extension.”