Uneasy Calm over EU’s Verdict on 2023 Elections

The final report released last Tuesday by the European Union Observers Mission on the 2023 elections has created an uneasy calm in the polity, especially with the petitions filed by the opposition political parties  still pending in court, Adedayo Akinwale writes

Uneasy calm has enveloped the polity since last Tuesday after the European Union Observers Mission released its final reports on the 2023 elections.

In the reports, the observers stated that the elections were marred by problems that reduced public trust in the electoral processes.

The EU mission also faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the operational challenges and glitches experienced with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the result viewing portal (IReV), saying the discrepancies severely damaged public confidence in the electoral body.

It was, however, of the opinion that INEC should improve in six priority areas, including removing ambiguities in electoral law, ensuring the real-time publication of and access to election results and clamping down on electoral offences.

It said: “Shortcomings in law and electoral administration hindered the conduct of well-run and inclusive elections and damaged trust in INEC. A lack of transparency and operational failures reduced trust in the process and challenged the right to vote.”

 President Bola Tinubu won the February 25 presidential election, clinching 37 per cent of the votes cast. 

However, the result is being challenged in court by his two main rivals — Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).

But in its reaction to the reports of the observers, INEC said it was unfair to judge its entire performance in the 2023 general election on the basis of a glitch in the uploading of the presidential election results.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said in assessing the process, Nigerians must start from the positives.

Okoye said: “Were there positives to this election? My answer is in the affirmative. One, the commission registered a lot of Nigerians to vote during this election and the commission also engaged in a lot of voter and civic education that engaged the Nigerian people with the electoral process.”

“Secondly, the commission introduced technology in terms of voter registration; the commission introduced technology in terms of candidates nomination; the commission introduced technology in terms of accreditation of domestic and international observers, including the media. That is a positive side.”

Expectedly, the presidency wasted no time in reacting to the reports, saying the yardstick and assessment of the EU observers mission cannot determine the credibility and transparency of the country’s elections.

The Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake, in a statement, said the presidency was not unaware of the machinations of the European Union to sustain its, largely, unfounded bias and claims on the election outcomes.

Alake stressed that there was no substantial evidence provided by the European Union or any foreign and local organisation that was viable enough to impeach the integrity of the 2023 election outcomes. 

He said: “Sometimes in May, we alerted the nation, through a press statement, to the  plan by a continental multilateral institution to discredit the 2023 general election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The main target was the presidential election, clearly and fairly won by the then candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola 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 organise ourselves.”

Alake reiterated that the presidential election was credible, peaceful, free, fair and the best organised general election in Nigeria since 1999. 

He wondered how the EU reached the conclusions in the submitted final report with the very limited coverage of the elections by their observers who allegedly relied more on rumours, hearsay, cocktails of prejudiced and uninformed social media commentaries and opposition talking heads.

Alake argued that what EU-EOM called final report on the recent elections was a product of a poorly done desk job that relied heavily on a few instances of skirmishes in less than 1,000 polling units out of over 176,000 where Nigerians voted on election day. 

He said: “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 the EU’s preliminary report released in March.”

Analysts feel that the EU report was a big blow to the Tinubu presidency especially since the tribunal is still sitting on the case. They argued that since the EU provided finance and other logistics for the successful conduct of the elections, it is well within their rights to have an opinion about the said election.

Those who spoke to THISDAY said since INEC welcomed the EU Mission to monitor and observe the election, it was bound to release and submit its findings to the commission for future elections.

In his reaction, Phrank Shaibu, the Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku commended the EU for stating that the poll was indeed fraught with electoral irregularities and failed to meet the minimum standard of credibility.

He said even the dead knew that the last election lacked credibility and even INEC had been unable to explain why nearly five months after the election, it had refused to upload the full results on its result viewing portal.

He said: “Even primary school children who did not vote know that INEC failed woefully and that Tinubu rigged the last election.”

In its intervention, the Labour Party (LP), through its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in a statement noted with dismay, the statement by the federal government discrediting the EU’s conclusion on the general election.

The opposition party stressed  that the European Union’s report was only one out of numerous submissions by other international observers who had described the outcome of the election as a sham and an exercise that did not reflect the will of the majority of Nigerians.

 Ifon added: “We see this face-saving measure by the federal government which is coming days after the submission of the report as feeble and medicine after death.

 “Labour Party stands by the position of the EU observation mission. We have always said that this election was massively rigged in favour of the APC and their candidate.”

Ifon insisted that whatever position the electoral body had taken was with active connivance with the federal government to deny the electorate, saying it clearly shows that INEC was not in any way independent. 

Nevertheless, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) said local observers and civil society groups working on election observation and democracy monitoring had also raised similar concerns about gaps in the electoral process in Nigeria.

In a statement by its Chairman, Auwal Musa Rasfanjani, the group stressed that the government and INEC may be sending the wrong message by disregarding both local election observers and the EU Election Report.

It added: “The recommendations by the European Union align with the views of many civil society groups and local observers. It is imperative that the government and INEC review those recommendations and work towards addressing the gaps in the electoral processes in order to make our electoral system more transparent, accountable and participatory to restore confidence in the process,” he said.

“We urge President Bola Tinubu to take courage and admit to the shortcomings with the electoral process which is evident by the violence and several election petitions going on in the country and the reduction of Nigerians’ participation in the elections, he should emulate late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who admitted that there were gaps in his election and committed to reform the electoral system. Therefore, TMG urges president Tinubu to ensure effective reform.”

 Despite the position of the presidency, the Presidential Election Petition Court presided by Justice Haruna Tsammani admitted in evidence, the final report of the EU mission report. 

The report tendered by Atiku was admitted amidst objections from INEC, President Tinubu and his party, the APC, who are 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively in the petition filed by Atiku and his party, the PDP.

The EU EOB report was tendered by Atiku’s lead lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, who pointed out that the report indicted the electoral umpire for failing to keep to its promise of a transparent, free and fair elections.

Uche drew the court’s attention to a paragraph of the report which stated that, “only 31 per cent of the presidential election results were uploaded unto the IReV,” as at when INEC announced Tinubu winner, revealing the deficiency in the training of INEC’s ad hoc staff.

While not trying to preempt the court, it remains to be seen what the outcome of the case will be at the end of the day.