Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC receives a certificate of return from INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu.
Dele Alake, the Special Advisor to the President on Special Duties, Media, and Strategy, passionately disagreed with the European Union’s final assessment on the Independent National Election Commission’s handling of the general elections in 2023. (INEC).
According to the EU study, INEC’s poor handling of the presidential election won by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress “severely harmed” its credibility (APC).
Alake, however, highlighted in the statement that Tinubu’s campaign team had earlier warned Nigerians about the purported EU plot to smear the 2023 general election.
The statement charged the EU with prejudice and continuous attacks on Nigeria’s sovereignty and election process.
Under President Tinubu’s leadership, the government stated its opposition to any effort by a foreign group to impose its evaluation as the only criterion for judging the legitimacy and transparency of Nigerian elections.
Alake maintained that the general elections in 2023, particularly the presidential election, were the most credible, orderly, free, and fair since 1999.
The statement contested the EU’s analysis and questioned the observers’ scant elections coverage.
The EU-EOM (European Union Election Observation Mission) allegedly monitored the elections with only 11 analysts based in Abuja and 40 election observers across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, “which the government believed was insufficient for adequately observing over 176,000 polling units in Nigeria,” according to Alake, who faulted the EU-Head, EOM’s Barry Andrews, who read out the body’s findings during a recent press conference in Abuja.
“We would like to know and even ask EU how it reached the conclusions in the submitted final report with the very limited election coverage by their observers who, without a doubt, relied more on rumours, hearsay, cocktails of prejudiced and uninformed social media commentaries, and opposition talking heads,” he continued.
“We are certain that the EU-so-called EOM’s final report on our recent elections was the result of a shoddy desk job that primarily depended on a handful of fights that took place in less than 1000 of the more than 176,000 polling places where Nigerians cast their ballots on election day.
“We have numerous grounds to think that the tainted study, based on the opinions of less than 50 observers, was only intended to uphold the same hasty condemnations position included in EU’s preliminary assessment issued in March.
“We vehemently reject in its completely any thought and suggestion from any organisation, group, and person remotely implying that the 2023 election was rigged,” the statement reads.
According to Alake’s analysis, President Tinubu’s leadership has received positive feedback from Nigerians, and the administration is still committed to enacting changes that will improve the country’s election system going forward.
Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party are contestants contesting Tinubu’s win in court.
