Frank Shaibu, the Special Assistant on Public Communication
to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar,
has backed the report by the European Union, EU, Election Monitoring Group that
the 2023 presidential election was rigged to favour President Bola Tinubu.
He affirmed the reports that the last general election in
Nigeria was marred by electoral irregularities and failed to meet the minimum
standard of credibility.
In a statement he signed, Shaibu said, “even the dead knew
that the last election lacked credibility, and even the Independent National
Electoral Commission had been unable to explain why nearly five months after
the election, it had refused to upload the full result on its result viewing
portal.
“Even primary school children who did not vote know that
INEC failed woefully and that Tinubu rigged the last election.”
He wondered why the Nigerian government would receive
billions of dollars from the EU as an election fund but rejected the body’s
comment on the polls.
This was as Shaibu criticized Tinubu and his spokesman, Dele
Alake, for trying to discredit the report.
He charged Alake to remain quiet rather than defend
irregularities.
“The EU not only provided training for INEC staff but also
donated equipment only for INEC to conduct a shambolic poll. So why would Alake
claim that the EU has no right to speak when it was the largest single donor to
INEC? Mr Alake should rather be quiet rather than try to defend the indefensible,”
he added.
However, the Nigerian government rejected the report saying
it was flawed and was not a reflection of what transpired during the election.
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