Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says the
final report of the European Union (EU) election observation mission in Nigeria
on the 2023 polls cannot be relied upon.
Speaking on Friday in an interview on Channels Television,
Falana said it smacks of colonial mentality for
Nigerians to start celebrating or debating the EU mission report on the
elections.
On Tuesday, the EU mission presented its report on the
general election in Abuja.
Barry Andrews, the chief observer, said the report was based
on the analysis of compliance with Nigeria’s regional and international
commitments for democratic elections.
The observation team said the elections exposed enduring
systemic weaknesses that needed to be corrected.
Reacting to the development, the human rights lawyer said
the reports by local media regarding the elections were “more credible” than
what the EU election observers presented.
“I’m very reluctant to speak about the report of the EU
observers team because it smacks of colonial mentality for us in this age and
time to be celebrating the report of the EU observers,” Falana said.
“I have found reports in the local media much more credible
than the report of the EU. We should not waste our time debating what the EU
observers found.
“For instance, they were saying that about 97 people were
killed. The local media have reported about 137 deaths and that has been
confirmed by the human rights community.
“I can count other areas that one cannot rely upon.”
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