The Presidency has rejected the conclusions of the European Union Election Observer Mission (EU-EOM) on the 2023 general elections, accusing the regional group of bias as it allegedly relied on social media commentaries and opposition talk heads to arrive at its submissions.
Recall that the EU-EOM in the final report on the exercise that it presented recently, found out that the general elections did not ensure a well-run transparent, and inclusive democratic process as had been promised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The EU-EOM held that public confidence and trust in INEC were severely damaged during the presidential poll and were not restored in state-level elections, leading civil society to call for an independent audit of the entire process.
The widely welcomed Electoral Act 2022 (the 2022 Act) introduced measures aimed at building stakeholder trust. However, the Act’s first test in a general election revealed crucial gaps in terms of INEC’s accountability and transparency, proved to be insufficiently elaborated, and lacked clear provisions for timely and efficient implementation,” the report said.
In its response to the Observer mission’s position, the Presidency in a statement issued on Sunday by Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President (Special Duties, Communications and Strategy), maintained that the presidential election won by President Bola Tinubu then the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was credible, peaceful, free, fair and the best organised general elections in Nigeria since 1999.
It said the EU-EOM or any other group did not provide substantial evidence that is viable enough to impeach the integrity of the 2023 election outcomes.
The Presidency pointed out that the group did not even have enough observers on ground to provide adequate coverage to the 176,000 polling units in the country, noting that local observers, ECOWAS and the Commonwealth Observer groups scored the conduct of the exercise high.
It said the country has moved beyond the elections while those not satisfied with the outcome were already challenging it in court.
The Presidency also averred that Nigerians are happy with the actions taken so far by Tinubu to redirect the country to the path of fiscal sustainability and socio-economic reforms.
The statement alleged that the EU-EOM final report is a continuation of what the group started in its preliminary assessment, which the ruling party had warned against earlier on.
It reads: “Sometimes in May, we alerted the nation, through a press statement, to the plan by a continental multi-lateral institution to discredit the 2023 general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission
