By Fatima Zahra Muhammad
ASHENEWS reports that an election monitoring group, The Transition Monitoring Group has berated the federal government and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its rejection of the report by the European Union on the conduct of the 2023 general elections in the country.
The group is urging the federal government and the INEC to accept the shortcomings identified in the report and work towards making reforms to the country’s electoral system.
The Chairman of the group, Comrade Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, in a statement said local observers and civil society groups working on election observation and democracy monitoring had also raised similar concerns about gaps in the electoral process in Nigeria.
“The recommendations by the European Union align with the views of many civil society groups and local observers. It is imperative that the government and INEC review those recommendations and work towards addressing the gaps in the electoral processes to make our electoral system more transparent, accountable, and participatory to restore confidence in the process,” he said.
According to him, “It is only when our government genuinely ensures that transparent and accountable, free and fair elections hold that our democracy and good governance can be consolidated and achieved in Nigeria.
“We urge President Bola Tinubu to take courage and admit to the shortcomings with the electoral process which is evident by the violence and several election petitions going on in the country and the reduction of Nigerian’s participation in the elections, he should emulate late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua who admitted that there were gaps in his election and committed to reform the electoral system. Therefore, TMG urges President Tinubu to ensure effective reform.
“The EU witnessed the election process and their report should not be ignored. It is disheartening to see that the government and INEC are disregarding the recommendations from the European Union who they invited to observe the elections,”
He also noted that the government and INEC may be sending the wrong message by disregarding both local election observers and the EU Election Report.
The group stressed that the federal government must not normalize electoral misconduct by its rejection of the report.
“The EU Electoral Report and local elections observers report should not be dismissed, but rather, it should be looked into, and the necessary action should be taken to ensure free, fair, transparent and credible elections in Nigeria,” Mr. Rafsanjani suggested.
