The WADEMOS Network, a collection of over 30 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from 15 countries in West Africa has released its official report on the recent Nigerian election.
The group, which includes the Coalition Of Domestic Elections Observers (CODEO), noted a number of issues with the recent polls including the number of votes accrued by the declared winner, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which was the lowest-ever polled by the president-elect of Nigeria.
“It raises questions about the legitimacy of the government as some have questioned the elections as lacking the true identity and representation of Nigerians,” WADEMOS stated in their report.
“There are calls for a review of the electoral laws with respect to the threshold for the declaration of candidates contesting for the presidency.”
WADEMOS also noted some “irregularities” which, it said cast some doubt on the credibility of the elections.
Some of the issues pointed out included the late opening of polls, the failure to open polls in some areas, some bouts of electoral violence, and the failure to upload results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal as required by law.
WADEMOS made some recommendations in its report for INEC and the other stakeholders including a review of the voting hours to allow Nigerian citizens enough time to participate in the polls given the late arrival of election officials and logistics.
Despite commending INEC for the introduction of advanced technology for the polls, the Network urged the Commission to begin internal investigations to review the performance of IReV and publish its findings.
“Persons found complicit should be sanctioned in accordance with the law. The election review process must be inclusive and transparent involving representatives of political parties and other relevant stakeholders. This is essential for INEC to regain the confidence of the electorate,” the report said.
WADEMOS also called on INEC to conduct a “comprehensive investigation into the reasons for which some polling units failed to open on time and the causes of the late arrival of materials to improve on future elections.”
“Late opening of polls and delayed deployment of logistics are all forms of voter suppression,” the report added.
Ruling party candidate, Bola Tinubu was declared the winner of Nigeria’s disputed presidential election.
The 70-year-old veteran politician got 37% of the vote, official results show.
His main rival Atiku Abubakar polled 29%, and Labour’s Peter Obi 25%.
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