There is a controversy between the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the two main opposition parties: the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Labour Party, LP, over the European Union Elections Observation Mission, EU-EOM, final report on the 2023 polls, particularly the presidential election of February 25.
It was earlier reported that the EU-EOM presented its final report on the 2023 polls to Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, last Tuesday.
The report faulted INEC for the operational challenges and glitches experienced with the bimodal voter accreditation system, BVAS, and the result viewing portal, saying the discrepancies severely damaged public confidence in the electoral body.
Barry Andrews, the chief observer, noted that “the election exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signalled a need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability.”
Andrews went ahead to offer several recommendations for consideration by the Nigerian government that would improve future elections.
APC refutes report
On Sunday, President Bola Tinubu-led federal government described the report as “a product of a poorly done desk job.”
Dele Alake, the special assistant to the President on special duties, communications and strategy, in a statement, faulted the data-gathering technique employed in the report.
He said: “EU-EOM observed the elections through 11 Abuja-based analysts, and 40 election observers spread across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“With the level of the personnel deployed, which was barely an average of one person per state, we wonder how EU-EOM independently monitored election in over 176,000 polling units across Nigeria.”
Alake added: “We would like to know and even ask the 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 the 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.”
The federal government stated 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.”
Consequently, it rejected, “in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent”, noting that “As a country, we have put the elections behind us. President Tinubu is facing the arduous task of nation-building, while those who have reasons to challenge the process continue to do so through the courts.”
PDP, LP stand by EU-EOM
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP and a former vice president, has berated the federal government for discrediting the EU report.
Atiku’s special assistant on public communications, Phrank Shaibu, in a statement, stated that the presidential election lacked credibility which is why INEC has been unable to upload the results on its result viewing, IReV, portal.
He said, “Even primary school children who did not vote know that INEC failed woefully and that Tinubu rigged the last election. The presidential election was held on February 25, 2023, and yet as of July 2, 2023, the result of the election has not been fully uploaded. This is although this election was the most expensive in the history of West African politics.”
Shuaibu, therefore, advised Alake to “be quiet rather than try to defend the indefensible.”
Similarly, the LP described the federal government’s response to the EU report as a “face-saving measure” and “medicine after death.”
A statement by the acting national publicity secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, reads partly: “European Union’s conclusion on the 2023 general elections is not jaundiced but an accurate testament of the outcome of the FG and INEC alliance to change the will of the electorate.
“We see this face-saving measure by the federal government which is coming days after the submission of the report as feeble and medicine after death.”
Ifoh said the EU’s report is only one out of numerous submissions by other international observers who also described the outcome of the election as a sham, adding that the “Labour Party stands by the position of the EU observation mission.”
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