Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), says the impression that the election umpire received funds
from international development partners is a wrong one.
Yakubu spoke on Monday at the commission’s meeting with
civil society organisations (CSOs) on the review of the 2023 general election.
Weeks ago, Phrank Shaibu, an aide to Atiku Abubakar,
flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25
presidential election, claimed that the federal government received €39 million
for the election.
“FG got 39 million Euros from EU as funding for 2023
election. EU report says the election was rigged and FG is calling EU
meddlesome interloper after collecting 39m euros,” he tweeted.
“You know you rigged.
We won’t beat you. We are in court. Just agree. There is honour even among
robbers.”
Yakubu however said international partners did not directly
contribute to the election.
“Rather, their support was totally indirect through civil society
organisations and implementing partners working on elections,” he said.
“Indeed, it has been
a longstanding policy of the present commission not to receive direct funding
and cash transfers from sources other than the federal government of Nigeria.
“We hope that we shall continue to have this type of
productive partnership with civil society and development partners in the
future.
“It is in furtherance of this partnership that the
commission accredits observers because the feedback we receive, and their
actionable recommendations have been very helpful to the electoral process.
“For the 2023 general election, the commission received 538
requests (504 domestic and 34 foreign) for accreditation as observers.
“After a thorough
evaluation of the requests, only 228 groups (190 domestic and 38 foreign) met
the requirements for accreditation.
“However, so far, only 67 observer groups (62 domestic and
five foreign) have submitted their reports which represents just about 30% of
the accredited groups for the election.
“We urge all accredited observer groups that are yet to
submit their reports to do so in earnest.”
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