By VICTORIA OJEME & RAPHAEL IZOKPU

ABUJA— Ahead of 2015 elections, the United States government, yesterday, said it would only support an election process that guaranteed the citizens’ rights to elect candidates of their choice, irrespective of party’s affiliation.

US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, made the remark at a four-day workshop entitled The Role of INEC Press Officers: Enhancing Good Governance Through Media and Grassroots Outreach, organised by the embassy to train Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s public affairs officers in Abuja.

According to Entwistle, such a process encompasses all stages in the run-up to elec-tions, including preparation of voters’ rolls, running cam-paigns, conducting the actual election and handling any problems immediately after.
He said: “We support an election process that protects the rights of Nigerians to use the ballot box to reflect the views and concerns of their communities.”