Brussels 02.03.2023 “The holding of the general elections on the 25th of February in Nigeria was the major democratic undertaking (according to us) in an extremely challenging context” said the European External Actions Service press person, while reacting upon the tense post-elections situation in the country. The context was characterised among other problems by the shortages of fuel and naira [cash-ADM].
“The independent National electoral Commission yesterday declared Mr.Bola Tinubu the Presidential candidate of the APC [All Progressives Congress-ADM] the winner and the leading opposition parties have stated that they planned to challenge the results. While we do acknowledge the operational failures we call all the stakeholders to continue upholding their commitments to follow the peaceful process following the announcements of the results”.
“Any dispute arising from the electoral process should be addressed though the established legal channels” the press-person continued. “The EU and the EU EOM [The EU Election Observation mission-ADM] continue to follow the process, and results which have now been announced, and, we also acknowledge the solid involvement of the civil society in the process”.
In addition to 150 thousands observers on the ground they had also carried out the parallel vote tabulation, which is “an important measure to ensure integrity” of the outcome of the elections, the EEAS press-person concluded.

Addressing the outcome of the elections the EU top diplomat Josep Borrell made a following statement on February 28: “The holding of general elections on 25 February in Nigeria was a major undertaking representing a key opportunity for the consolidation of democracy. Despite a challenging context and operational failures, the Nigerian people demonstrated their commitment to democracy.

“Following an invitation from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the EU deployed an Election Observation Mission (EOM) throughout the country, led by MEP Barry Andrews. The Mission has now published its preliminary statement and will remain in Nigeria until the end of the electoral period. It will then publish a final report and formulate recommendations with a view to contributing to the continuous deepening of Nigeria’s democracy.

“The EU looks forward to the announcement of the results by the INEC, calling on all stakeholders to respect the process and remain peaceful and calm, while the INEC collates the results”.