Politicians in the country have been asked to accept in good faith the failures and successes of the 2023 general elections.
Obo Effanga, the Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), held this position.
NewsClick Nigeria gathered that the Edo REC made the submission during a press conference to celebrate the success of the state election.
According to Effanga, it is interesting how politicians attribute their victories to a victory for democracy while blaming everyone but themselves for their defeat.
He urged them to accept the election results in good faith so that the country’s democracy could advance.
He said; “It was interesting that at some point, when some of the elections were concluded, we had a few protests and interestingly the three political parties that won various seats in the state had at different times complained where they didn’t win.
“I have found it interesting that where they won, they were happy about it, where they didn’t win, in some instances, they raised the issue about it and I think it is part of the game politicians play that whenever they win it was a victory for democracy, it was a reflection of how the people loved and voted for them.
“And when they didn’t win, they would always try to find reasons to excuse themselves and blame everyone apart from themselves. We gave everybody the opportunity to protest at our offices. We listened to them, we received their complaints and there was little we could do about the complaints.”
