2023 Elections: Tinubu Rejects EU’s Claim That INEC ‘Severely Damaged’ Its Reputation
The Presidency has lambasted the European Union (EU) for its final report on the 2023 general elections, which it described as a “poorly done desk job” that relied on rumours and hearsay.
The report, released by the EU’s Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM), alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “severely damaged” its reputation over its poor conduct of the presidential election won by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement issued by Dele Alake, the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications, and Strategy, the Presidency recalled that it had earlier warned Nigerians about the EU’s alleged plot to undermine the credibility and transparency of the 2023 elections.
The statement accused the EU of being biased and unrelenting in its assault on Nigeria’s electoral process and sovereignty.
The Presidency expressed its displeasure with any foreign organization’s attempt to impose its assessment as the only criterion for determining the quality of Nigerian elections.
It insisted that the 2023 elections, especially the presidential election, were credible, peaceful, free, fair, and the best organized in the country since 1999.
The statement challenged the EU’s assessment, questioning the limited coverage of the elections by their observers. It faulted the Head of EU-EOM, Barry Andrews, who read out the body’s findings during a recent press conference in Abuja.
It claimed that the EU-EOM monitored the elections with only 11 analysts based in Abuja and 40 election observers across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, “which the government believed was insufficient for adequately observing over 176,000 polling units in Nigeria.”
It added, “We would like to know and even ask EU, how it reached the conclusions in the submitted final report with the very limited coverage of the elections by their observers who, without doubt, relied more on rumours, hearsay, cocktails of prejudiced and uninformed social media commentaries and opposition talking heads.
“We are convinced that what EU-EOM called final report on our recent elections is a product of a poorly done desk job that relied heavily on few instances of skirmishes in less than 1000 polling units out of over 176,000 where Nigerians voted on election day.
“We have 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.
“We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent.”
The statement concluded that President Tinubu’s leadership has been positively received by Nigerians, and that the government remains committed to implementing reforms that will further strengthen the country’s electoral process in the future.
It also noted that some of the candidates in the election, including Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, are in court to challenge Tinubu’s victory.
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