APC, Tinubu And EU Reports On 2023 Elections
Odili Ogochukwu –
President Bola Tinubu rejected the report by the European Unions Electoral Observer Mission on the 2023 general elections.
He described the final report as a poor product cultivated by persons with interest to undermine democracy in Nigeria.
All Progressives Congress (APC), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and President Bola Tinubu have had no rest following the irregularities trailing the process of the 2023 presidential election.
The result of the presidential election was faced with protests; massive rejection at the national collation center, Abuja, even before Tinubu was declared winner of the election.
The protestants who were majorly parties’ agents alleged fraud in the election conduct, and accused INEC of breaching electoral laws for not transmitting the result to its server from polling units.
The European Unions Electoral Observer Mission on the 2023 general elections, however, in its report blast the nation’s Electoral System, saying that it was marred with irregularities.
The president Tinubu, while reacting to the report, said that he has many reasons to believe the “jaundiced report”, based on the views of fewer than 50 observers, “was to merely sustain the same premature denunciatory stance contained in EU’s preliminary report released in March.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mr. Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, with the title, “We reject European Union’s conclusions on 2023 general elections.
“We find it preposterous and unconscionable that in this day and age, any foreign organisation of whatever can continue to insist on its own yardstick and assessment as the only way to determine the credibility and transparency of our elections.
“For emphasis, we want to reiterate that the 2023 general elections, most especially the presidential election, won by President Bola Tinubu/All Progressives Congress, were credible, peaceful, free, fair and the best organised general elections in Nigeria since 1999.”
The statement said that there was no substantial evidence by the EU or any foreign body that is viable enough to discredit the outcome of the polls.
The Presidency says unlike EU-EOM that deployed fewer than 50 observers, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, sent out over 1000 observers spread across the entire country for same election gave a more holistic and accurate assessment of the elections in their own report.
“NBA, an organisation of eminent lawyers and an important voice within the civic space, reported that 91.8 per cent of Nigerians rated the conduct of the national and state elections as credible and satisfactory.
“It is heart-warming that INEC, through its National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, has come out to defend the integrity of the election it conducted by rejecting the false narratives in the EU report.”
