Allow Nigerians to breathe, APC Counter EU Elections Report

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 organized 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, the plan by a continental multi-lateral institution to discredit the 2023 general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The main target was the presidential election, clearly and fairly won by the then-candidate of All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed 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 organize ourselves.

“We find it preposterous and unconscionable that in this day and age, any foreign organization 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.

“Now that the organization has submitted what it claimed to be its final report on the elections, we can now categorically let Nigerians and the entire world know that we were not unaware of the machinations of the European Union to sustain its, largely, unfounded bias and claims on the election outcomes.

“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.

“There is no substantial evidence provided by the European Union or any foreign and local organization that is viable enough to impeach the integrity of the 2023 election outcomes.

“It is worth restating that the limitation of EU final assessment and conclusions on our elections was made very bare in the text of the press conference addressed by the Head of its Electoral Observation Mission, Barry Andrews.

“While addressing journalists in Abuja on the so-called final report, Andrews noted that EU-EOM monitored the pre-election and post-election processes in Nigeria from January 11 to April 11, 2023, as an INEC-accredited election monitoring group.

“Within this period, 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 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.

“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.

“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.

“Unlike EU-EOM that deployed fewer than 50 observers, the Nigerian Bar Association which 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.

“Any election that over 90% of the citizens considered transparent should be celebrated anywhere in the world.

“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.

“It is also gratifying that the electoral umpire, as an institution that is open to learning and continuous improvements, has also committed to taking on board more ideas, innovation and reforms that will further enhance the integrity and credibility of our electoral process.

“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.

“In just one month in office, Nigerians appear satisfied with the decisive leadership of President Tinubu and the manner he is redirecting the country to the path of fiscal sustainability and socio-economic reforms.

“We urge the EU and other foreign interests to be objective in all their assessments of the internal affairs of our country and allow Nigeria to breathe.”