“We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent,” the statement said.
President Bola Tinubu has rejected the report of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM), describing it as “a product of a poorly done desk job.”
He said the EU did not provide any substantial evidence viable enough to question the integrity of the 2023 election outcomes.
Presidential spokesperson Dele Alake stated this position in a statement on Sunday.
Nigeria held its general election in February and March. Supplementary elections were also held in April.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, the winner of the 25 February presidential poll.
Mr Tinubu defeated 17 other candidates to emerge winner and was inaugurated on 29 May.
His victory is however being challenged in court by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.
EU-EOM report
The EU-EOM, in its final report on the poll last Tuesday, said though the elections showed the commitment of Nigerians to democracy, it also exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signal a need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability.
It added that shortcomings in law and electoral administration hindered the conduct of well-run and inclusive elections and damaged trust in INEC.
Jaundiced report
Mr Alake said Mr Tinubu and his team have rejected any notion or idea from the EU that the election was fraudulent.
“We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent,” the statement said.
He said they were convinced “that what EU-EOM called the final report on our recent elections is a product of a poorly done desk job that relied heavily on a few instances of skirmishes in less than 1000 polling units out of over 176,000 where Nigerians voted on election day.”
Mr Alake reiterated that the 2023 general elections, most especially the presidential election, won by Mr Tinubu were credible, peaceful, free, fair and the best organised general elections in Nigeria since 1999.
He added, “Our earlier position that the technology-aided 2023 general elections were the most transparent and best organised elections since the return of civil rule in Nigeria has been validated by all non-partisan foreign and local observers such are the African Union, ECOWAS, Commonwealth Observer Mission and the Nigerian Bar Association.”
