The Nigerian Governemnt has rejectd the European Union’s conclusions regarding the credibility of the 2023 general elections, describing it as a “poorly-done desk job”.
In a statement by the presidential spokesperson, Dele Alake, the government accused the EU of bias and unfounded claims, saying the elections, especially the presidential election won by Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, were credible, peaceful, and well-organized
According to the government, the EU’s insistence on using its own yardstick and assessment as the sole criteria for determining the transparency and credibility of Nigerian elections is “preposterous and unconscionable”.
The government also querried the basis for the conclusions by the EU, considering its limited coverage of the elections with only about 51 observers and analysts.
Alake said the EU relied more on rumors, hearsay, biased social media commentaries, and opposition narratives, rather than a comprehensive assessment of the whole process as against the validation of the same exercise by non-partisan foreign and local observers such as the African Union, ECOWAS, Commonwealth Observer Mission, and the Nigerian Bar Association.
The EU mission presented its report on Nigeria’s 2023 general elections in Abuja on Tuesday noting the exercise was marred by systemic weaknesses and made some suggestions on identified key areas that require improvement for the country’s future electoral process.
