The European Union Election Observer Mission has said that Nigeria’s 2019 general elections could have been anything but transparent, violent- and voter harassment-free.
The chief observer of EU EOM, Ms, Maria Arena, made the pronouncement at a press conference held in Abuja on Saturday at a press conference in Abuja on Saturday.
The EU, which submitted its final report on the poll on Friday, said the elections were “marred by violence and intimidation, with the role of the security agencies becoming more contentious as the process progressed.”
“Overall, the EU EOM concluded the 2019 elections were marked by severe operational and transparency shortcomings, electoral security problems and low turnout,” she said.
The EU EOM also faulted the leading political parties and saying “they were at fault for not reining in acts of violence and intimidation by their supporters and abuse of incumbency at federal and state levels.”
But the spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari campaign organisation responded to the allegation saying the EU EOM had not reached a definite conclusion in the post-election report.
“If you were an observer you should come to a definitive conclusion,” said Keyamo.
Keyamo stated that the EU observers relied on less than 500 polling units in arriving at its recommendations.
He with over 120,000 polling units where elections were conducted, a handful of abnormalities in few polling units are not a reflection of the entire process.
“If you observed certain anomalies, it could not have been in more than 500 polling units. If you do observe anomalies in those polling units, how does that substantially affect results coming from 120,000 polling units.
“So, it is not enough for you to discuss the anomalies alone, you must discuss the overall results coming from the entire country, and whether it did reflect the wishes of the majority of the people,” he added.
