Kufuor leads AU observer mission for Nigeria's elections.

Accra, April 13, Former President John Agyekum Kufuor leaves Accra Wednesday for Abuja, Nigeria, as head of a 40-member African Union (AU) Observer Mission to that country's Presidential elections which comes off on Saturday, 16th April.

The AU Mission to be deployed to all parts of the country is made up of personalities from the AU Commission, the Pan-African Parliament, officials of national electoral bodies and members of the African Civil Society.

A statement issued to the Ghana News Agency signed by Mr Frank Agyekum, Spokesman for the Former President, said the mission is expected at the outset, to make an independent and impartial observation of the electoral process in Nigeria.

Former President Kufuor will also coordinate activities of the Observer Mission of the International Republic Institute whose pre-election monitoring team he chaired last March.

About 73 million people have registered for the presidential, parliamentary, and gubernatorial polls over two weeks. Twenty-two candidates are contesting incumbent Goodluck Jonathan for the Presidency while there are 360 seats up for grabs in the House of Representatives, and 109 in the Upper House, or the Senate. Logistical constrains, including the inability for voting materials to be distributed to all electoral areas caused the two-week elections to be postponed for a week.

=A0 Former President Kufuor will be away for about one week, the statement concluded. 13 April 11