As the meeting was ongoing, the United States and the United Kingdom   expressed concern over what they called “disturbing indications” of a “deliberate political interference “ in the collation process.

The UK Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond,   and the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, in a joint statement posted on www.uk.gov, said “there are disturbing indications that

the collation process – where the votes are finally counted – may be subject to deliberate political interference.”

Warning politicians not to undermine the independence of INEC, they said their observations so far showed that   there had been no evidence of systemic manipulation of the process.

According to them, any plot to change the results would contravene the letter and spirit of the Abuja Accord, to which both major parties committed themselves.

The statement read,”The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom would be very concerned by any attempts to undermine the independence of the electoral commission (INEC) or its Chairman, Prof (Attahiru Jega); or in any way distort the expressed will of the Nigerian people.

“Our governments welcome the largely peaceful vote on March 28. The Nigerian people have shown a commendable determination to register their vote and choose their leaders.