The Federal Government rejected the European Union’s report on the general elections of 2023, calling the mission’s findings “jaundiced” and maintaining that Tinubu, the APC candidate running for president at the time, won the election “clearly and fairly” on February 25, 2023.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) received the EU’s report on the Nigerian elections of 2023 on June 27, 2023. The report stated that the election revealed enduring systemic weaknesses and thus signalled the need for additional legal and operational reforms to improve transparency, inclusivity, and accountability.
The EU also outlined six areas where Nigeria’s electoral process needs to be improved going forward.
But Dele Alake, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, Communications, and Strategy, issued a statement on Sunday saying, “We urge the EU and other foreign interests to be objective in all their assessments of the internal affairs of our country and to allow Nigeria to breathe and not meddle in the affairs of the country.
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“We find it preposterous and unconscionable that in this day and age, any foreign organisation 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,” he said.
“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,” he stated.
“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.
The government is aware of the “machinations of the European Union to sustain its, largely, unfounded bias and claims on the election outcomes,” according to Alake.
According to him, Nigeria has put the elections behind it, and Tinubu now has to focus on reconstructing the country as neither the EU nor any other foreign or domestic organisation has offered any credible proof that would be able to call into question the validity of the results of the 2023 elections.
“We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent.”
“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.”
