Issues from the Nigerian elections rage on, months since the Electoral body, INEC announced winners. The election petition and issues tribunal, headed by members of the nation's judiciary has also given their verdict, followed by the Supreme Court. Now, let us find out what the International society thinks about the contentious Presidential part of the elections.
Starting with the European Union!
Through their Election Observation Mission, they released a report that read out their position.
Abuse of incumbency by various political officeholders distorted the playing field and widespread vote buying detracted from the appropriate conduct of the elections. Incidents of organized violence shortly before and on election days in several states created an environment deterring voter participation."
The BBC Zeroed in on Rivers State:
"While the official result in this state gave a clear majority to Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), our tally suggested that Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) had received the most votes in the state by a wide margin."
That was from one BBC report. The rigging was far more brazen in Rivers State than in other parts of Nigeria; maybe too much not to be highlighted by the BBC.
Undermining Citizen Confidence
International observer group The International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute (NDI/IRI) had this to say about INEC's performance:
"Challenges with the electronic transfer of results and their upload to a public portal promptly undermined citizen confidence at a crucial moment of the process".
Aljazeera
"Observers said polls were mostly peaceful, though delays caused some voters to wait until the following day to cast their ballots." That was from Aljazeera.
Certainly, the ruling-winning APC-led Federal Government would have found them supportive.
CNN
Popular opinion about the elections seemed to align best with CNN's report. They did not fail to capture the fact that record numbers of young Nigerians turned out in faith for these elections, and when they sensed disenfranchisement approaching, registered their angst.
Their correspondent, Larry Madowo had this on his YouTube channel:
"...angry voters in Lagos who did not vote in the Nigerian general election because INEC officials did not show up. They accuse the Independent National Electoral Commission of colluding with the ruling party to disenfranchise them and subvert their will."
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