Islamic Group Says EU Report Plan To Destabilise Nigeria

The Prf. Ishaq Akintola-led Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has faulted the final report of the European Union, EU, observer team on the 2023 presidential election.

In the report released earlier by the European Union Election Observer Mission, EU EOM, it said the election that produced Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner was highly flawed.

President Tinubu and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, had earlier rejected the report, saying the EU cannot delegitimise the election by the report.

The president said he won the highly contested election, fair and square describing the report as “jaundiced.”

In its own reaction to the EU report, MURIC said in a statement on Tuesday that the European bloc is trying to promote an imperialist agenda in the country, adding that the plan was to destabilize the country.

MURIC said: “The Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM), Barry Andrews, at a news conference in Abuja last week, presented its final report on the 2023 general election in Nigeria. The report was an undisguised indictment of Nigeria’s electoral system.

“We are nonplussed by this blatant attempt to push an imperialist agenda down the throat of Nigerians. The report is a premeditated attempt at inciting anarchy in the country with the hope of gaining political and economic influence at the outbreak of commotion.

“The EU EOM final report is the odd one out when juxtaposed with those of other election monitoring groups. We saw nothing close to this in the report of the U.S-based International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). NDI/IRI came with 40 observers from 20 countries led by Dr. Joyce Banda, a former President of Malawi. They did not sow any seed of confusion.

“Also, 229 different observer groups deployed 146,913 domestic and international monitors; 33 of these were international observer missions which deployed 2,113 observers and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INED) threw its doors wide open for them.

“Why is the EU EOM report a different cup of tea? Is this group trying to tell the world that the Commonwealth Observer Group, led by Thabo Mbeki, which also covered the elections, is blind? The African Union (AU) had its team and so did the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) observer team, led by Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan.

“Nigerians should not allow the EU EOM to destabilise the country. Imperialists will never teach you what will benefit your country but what will make you despise it. MURIC rejects this EU EOM report. It is jaundiced.”