THE Executive Director of the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth, and Advancement (YIAGA) Africa, Samson Itodo, says the report of the 2023 general elections by the European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission is not a reflection of the integrity of the election outcome.
“I don’t think the intent of this report is to assess and make a judgement as to the credibility of the elections process,” Itodo said on Tuesday.
He also said Nigeria has a few things to learn from the general election in Sierra Leone.
Earlier, the EU Mission identified six areas for improvement in Nigeria’s electoral process and presented its recommendations to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission – INEC, Mahmood Yakubu.
Speaking on the development, Itodo noted that the EU’s verdict is a welcome development, adding that the issues highlighted are not new to the international community.
The YIAGA director said that the country already has an existing bilateral relationship with the international communities and does not exist in isolation in its dealings.
“There is nothing wrong with the timing of the European Union’s postmortem report on Nigeria’s 2023 elections.
“The EU has a comprehensive framework for measuring and assessing elections based on certain values and principles that the country in our electoral law and constitution have set for ourselves,” he said.
According to him, the reports coinciding with the election judicial process are not to influence the cases in court.
“I don’t think that the intention is to influence the current cases being handled by the court, it is not in any way an attempt to interfere with that process; it is just part of the practice in the election observation ecosystem,” he maintained.