EU: We Didn�t Applaud Tribunal Verdict

The European Union (EU) said yesterday that it had not made any statement to support the verdict of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, which on Tuesday upheld the election of President Umaru MusaYar�Adua.
EU had been reported to have said the ruling on the election of President Yar�Adua would further confirm the independence of the judiciary.
The statement was attributed to the Head of the EU delegation to Nigeria, Mr. Robert van der Meulen.
But denying that the union applauded the judgment of the tribunal, EU said yesterday that Meulen did not make any such comments as reported on the verdict of the Court of Appeal.
In a press release signed by the Head of Section, Politics, Economic, Trade, Information and Communication, Mr. Tom Millar, EU said Meulen only made general comments on the independence of the judiciary.
The statement entitled �Re: Court of Appeal Verdict�, EU said: �It has come to our attention that a number of media sources are reporting alleged comments made by the European Commission’s Head of Delegation to Nigeria , Mr. Robert van der Meulen, regarding the Court of Appeal verdict.
�Many have wrongly reported that the EU has applauded the verdict of the Court regarding the Presidential Elections.
�The EU would like to clarify that it has made no statement, official or otherwise, regarding the Court of Appeal verdict.
�On the morning of Feb. 26, Mr. van der Meulen had made some general complimentary remarks regarding the independence of the judiciary and its important role in the democratic process in Nigeria, during a ceremony to mark the donation of digital court recording equipment to the Nigerian Judiciary Institute.
�He specifically underlined to the audience that these were general remarks, made before the verdict of the Court of Appeal.
�Indeed, the verdict of the Court of Appeal was not given until several hours after the specific event during which Mr. van der Meulen made his general remarks.
�He could thus not have been commenting on a judgment, which had not yet been delivered.�

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