[News] Protesters storm EU office, demand withdrawal of election reports

The European Union (EU) in Abuja was besieged on Thursday, July 6, by a Coalition of Civil Society Organisation and Political Parties for Good Governance (CCSOPPGG), claiming to be a pro-democracy group.

 

The protesters asked the European Union to withdraw its reports on the 2023 presidential elections immediately as it capable of setting the country on fire.

 

They held up placards warning the EU not to ignite war in Nigeria through its “biased” report on the victory.

 

Recall that the EU had in its report, stated that the 2023 election was marred by non-transparency, violence, killing and vote buying. They accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of reneging on some promises made to voters before the election was held.

 

Addressing officials of the EU, who attended to the protesters, the convener of the group,  Lillian Ene Ogbole said;

 

“How on earth can just less than fifty people from the European Union come to Nigeria to observe an election where you have over 176,000 polling units and then they go to less than 1000 polling units of election centres and they draw conclusions?

“As you can see, we are here with thousands of patriotic Nigerians who have come specifically to raise concern about the presentation and the reports of the European Union concerning the just concluded elections.

“We have come to register unequivocally that we are not satisfied with the report of the European Union as a matter of fact, we think that the report is not just ridiculous but a deliberate act to the Nigerian entity and of course by implications our leaders and the government of Nigeria. We are all Nigerians here. We were all here during the just concluded election.

“I would like to say to you very clearly that there is nowhere election in the world that is devoid of crisis and hitches. Every election in the world both in the United States of America, in Great Britain Ireland and even the European Union countries.

“Yes, we are aware that the world is a global village therefore, people from different parts of the world converge in various countries during elections to monitor, observe and make presentations like the EU has done but what we found unnecessary, what we found not worthy is how the report was made.

“The election that just concluded in Nigeria that produced one of Nigeria’s most competent men alive today, in the person of His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu was one of the most transparent elections in the history of Nigeria. We were taking back when the report came, the media was washed with the report of the European Union carefully and specifically saying that the election was fraudulent; that the election fell short of the requirements of every credible election in the world.

“I don’t know where that one is coming from. If it is the election that we were all part of, that we all fought vigorously with our lives and everything as patriots and well-meaning Nigerians to ensure that the election is held. If it is the same election that the European Union spoke about, what we read then it means that something is fishy somewhere.

“You would also agree with me that the report of the European Union is enough to trigger a national problem, is enough to trigger national chaos, our security is at stake, our sovereignty is at stake, our unity is at stake.

“Nigeria is a great country in Africa, the most populated country in West Africa and the pride of the African countries. If the European Union is beginning to address our election the way they have presented this report then we are scared. We are scared, not that it is just going to affect Nigeria as a country but is going to affect the whole of the African continent.

“We understand the role they played but again there comes a time when we have to stop. They should know where to stop and they should know where to continue. Why on earth should they take the report of this election to the tribunal? Is there a report that should be received? There are procedures and they have procedures in their counties, when they come to Nigeria, they act out of protocol. They must begin to have protocols, they must begin to respect our rule of law, they must begin to respect our Nigerian People.”

 

Ogbole also maintained that Tinubu was voted in based on his track records and capacity. She said;

 

“We are saying enough is enough. We have a President that is doing very well. We have a President that has started on the right footing, we have a President that is doing what several Presidents in Nigeria have not been able to do. All that we need at this point is to support him. He is our Son, and we are his children, he is our leader and we willingly voted for him.

“No man, no woman, no country compel us to vote for him. It is our right to vote for him. It is our right to vote for the candidate of our choice and that was what exactly what we exhibited in the last election. The election we all witnessed was free to an extent which was almost 100 per cent free.

“It was an election that was devoid of many things we use to witness in the past. Our democracy is growing to an accelerated rate and we must warn the international community to take cognisance of that.”

 

The EU officials promised to convey the grieviances of the protesters to the appropriate authorities.