Former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has said the report by the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) on the 2023 general elections cannot delegitimise President Bola Tinubu’s government.
Last Monday, the EU submitted its final report on the 2023 general elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja.
The report said Nigeria’s polls exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signalled a need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness and accountability.
However, the Federal Government rejected the report, describing the conclusions of the EU Election Observation Mission as “jaundiced”.
Taking to his Twitter handle on Monday night, Keyamo said only the Judiciary can legitimise or delegitimise Tinubu’s government.
https://twitter.com/fkeyamo/status/1675899697817329664?s=20
Arguing that there was no election worldwide without irregularities, the former minister held that the issue was whether the supposed irregularities affected the election outcome.
According to him, the EU’s report is not a document that tells who won or lost an election.
“It is only a forensic examination of the entire process by the judiciary that can determine the extent to which the supposed ‘irregularities’ affected the outcome of the elections. And there are legal rules already laid down to achieve this,” he stated.
“The EU report is NOT (and cannot be) a document that tells you who won or lost an election. It only reports the ‘irregularities’ noticed and recommends improvement in future elections.
“Therefore, all the hoopla over that EU report is neither here nor there when it comes to legitimizing or delegitimizing the government of the day. That power or responsibility belongs to the Judiciary.”
https://twitter.com/fkeyamo/status/1676138555238653953?s=20
On March 1, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu – then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) – the winner of the keenly contested February 25 presidential poll.
As a result, aggrieved parties – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) – rejected the result and are challenging the outcome before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja.
