The Nigeria’s President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has rejected the report of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM), arguing that the union did not provide any substantial evidence viable enough to question the integrity of the election.
Penpushing reports that the Presidential spokesperson Dele Alake made this known in a statement on Sunday, emphasizing that the position of the President was that the report was a product of a poorly done desk job.
The Presidential spokesperson insisted that his boss and his team have rejected any notion or idea from the European Union (EU) or any organization, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent.
“We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent. We are convinced that what EU-EOM called the final report on our recent elections is a product of a poorly done desk job that relied heavily on a few instances of skirmishes in less than 1000 polling units out of over 176,000 where Nigerians voted on election day’, he declared.
Penpushing further reports that Alake reiterated that the 2023 general elections, most especially the presidential election, won by Tinubu were credible, peaceful, free, fair and the best organised general elections in Nigeria since 1999.
‘Our earlier position that the technology-aided 2023 general elections were the most transparent and best organised elections since the return of civil rule in Nigeria has been validated by all non-partisan foreign and local observers such are the African Union, ECOWAS, Commonwealth Observer Mission and the Nigerian Bar Association.”
Penpushing also reports that Tinubu imagemaker recalled that in May the Tinubu campaign organisation had in a statement alerted the nation to a plan by a continental multilateral institution to discredit the polls and the main target was the presidential election won by Tinubu.
‘While we did not mention the name of the organisation in the said statement, we made it abundantly clear to Nigerians how this foreign institution had been unrelenting in its assault on the credibility of the electoral process, the sovereignty of our country and on our ability as a people to organise ourselves’, Alake stated.
‘We find it preposterous and unconscionable that in this day and age, any foreign organisation of whatever hue can continue to insist on its own yardstick and assessment as the only way to determine the credibility and transparency of our elections,” he said.
Penpushing further reports that it is recalled that Nigeria held its general election in February and March. Supplementary elections were also held in April, but the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) in its final report on the poll last Tuesday, said though the elections showed the commitment of Nigerians to democracy.
The body, however, said it also exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signal a need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability, adding that shortcomings in law and electoral administration hindered the conduct of well-run and inclusive elections and damaged trust in Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Penpushing also reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its reaction faulted the claim of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM), describing it as unfair on its overall performance during the 25 February and 11 March general elections conducted in Nigeria.
The spokesperson of the commission Festus Okoye stated that it is not fair to judge the entire performance of the commission on the basis of a glitch in the result upload for the presidential election, arguing that the glitch in downloading the presidential election result was not a solid reason to question the electoral body’s performance during polls.
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