From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has condemned attacks that have trailed the 2023 general elections’ report released by the European Union Election
Observation Mission (EU EOM).
CHRICED Executive Director, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, in a statement yesterday, said the remarks of the Dele Alake, who is the Special Adviser to the President Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, was unwarranted.
Zikirullahi said the contributions the EU on elections since 1999, to deepen Nigeria’s democracy cannot be dismissed with an ill-advised press statement from the presidency.
He added that instead of the grandstanding and sophistry deployed by perceived democrats, they should put aside their egos and accept the flaws, which have made their so-called mandate questionable in the eyes of the public.
He said: “CHRICED observed with dismay, the wave of uncharitable attacks targeted at the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) over its pertinent observations about the irregularities, which undermined and tainted the credibility of the 2023 Presidential election.
“As a non-partisan observer of the electoral process and an advocate of democratic and governance reforms in Nigeria, CHRICED strongly condemns the recent onslaughts, including the ill-tempered press statement from the Presidency denouncing the EU EOM report.
“For us, the statement credited to the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy gives the impression to Nigerians and the international community that current power holders are unwilling to learn the key reform-related lessons from the 2023 General Elections.
“Since 1999, the European Union (EU) has been a strategic partner in Nigeria’s democratic process.
“The contributions EU has made over the years to deepening democracy in Nigeria cannot be dismissed with an ill-advised press statement from the presidency.
“As an important instrument for the leadership recruitment in the country, the electoral process and issues connected to it, are too important to be trivialized.
“Instead of the grandstanding and sophistry, those who claim to be democrats and progressives must put aside their egos and accept the flaws, which have made their so-called mandate questionable in the eyes of the public.
“It is therefore preposterous and indicative of a lack of willingness to right the wrongs for key officials of the state to unjustly castigate national and international organizations, that are dispassionately calling for comprehensive electoral reforms in Nigeria.
“CHRICED took time to read through the EU EOM report. As far as we are concerned, the issues raised in the report are consistent with what credible, nonpartisan civil society organizations noted in their post-election observation reports.
“It is therefore expected that in response to the identified defects, patriotic statesmen and women, as well as well-meaning citizens would come together to champion the needed reforms to clean up Nigeria’s elections such that they truly become free, fair and credible in the future.
“Therefore, the wide range of qualitative and quantitative data generated by civic organizations across the country revealed widespread flaws and irregularities, indicating that the 2023 elections were riddled with credibility issues and did not meet citizens’ expectations.
“Consequently, the EU EOM report simply presented these issues, and to its credit, the Mission did not only identify the issues observed during the process, but also provided practical and actionable recommendations to the relevant institutions of Nigerian State and society.”