2023 Polls: Government’s Reaction to EU Report Panicky, Says Group

*Atiku’s aide warns against disrupting tribunal proceedings

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

United Action Front of Civil Society, an umbrella platform for civil society organisations dedicated to governance and democracy, has decried the combative reaction of the President Bola Tinubu government to the recently released report of European Union-Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM), describing it as panicky self-indictment.

The remark came as Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu, warned supporters of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu against disrupting proceedings at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
In a statement by Head, National Coordinating Centre, United Action Front of Civil Society, Olawale Okunniyi, the group stated that the frenzy, undiplomatic attack, and sponsored protest against the European Union for making known its impartial observation of the flaws and criminality that characterised the February 25 presidential election was a clear demonstration of bad faith.

“It is, indeed, obvious that the Tinubu-led regime is palpably troubled by the burden of the flawed mandate it currently presides over,” the group noted.
The group condemned the combative posturing of the administration, whose handlers were regrettably unmindful of the responsibility and decency required of the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It stated, “It reeks of bare-faced hypocrisy for the Tinubu administration to accuse the EU of attempting to ridicule the Nigerian electoral system and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), when in actual fact the Election Observers Report of the EU only partly captures the widespread flaws majorly orchestrated by the ruling All Progressives Congress during the February 25 presidential elections as well as the rescheduled governorship polls held March 18, 2023.”

The group commended EU-EOM for the courage to state the facts, even though, it said, it was evident that the atrocities and grand robbery that characterised the 2023 elections in some parts of the country were either not captured or under-reported.
Shaibu, in his own statement, said the warning against disrupting the work of the presidential election tribunal became imperative following the sponsored protest that Tinubu’s supporters staged at the European Union head office in Abuja after the release of the EU Observer Mission report, which revealed how the election failed the credibility test.

The statement said, “We seize this opportunity to send a warning to the Tinubu government and its minions against disrupting the proceedings of the election tribunal as they have shown a clear disdain for the truth by picketing the EU office.

“Recall that in 1999, when the late legendary lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, sued Tinubu for school certificate forgery, thugs were sponsored to cause protests outside the court house. Similarly, when Tinubu was facing charges before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, thugs were similarly sponsored to protest at the trial, all in a bid to intimidate the judiciary.

“We find it curious that the same security agencies, which have been issuing statements barring protests, were curiously available to provide cover for sponsored pro-government protesters to picket the EU office. We sound a note of warning to the security agencies to be on the alert as the tribunal proceedings wind down. The world is watching.”