U.S. Senator Says Washington Shouldn’t Rush To Legitmatise Nigeria’s Presidential Election Results

By Charles Igbo

A United States Republican Senator, Jim Risch, (Idaho), has advised the United States Government not to be “in a rush to embrace” the results of the February 25 Presidential election held in Nigeria.

Senator Risch, a ranking Senator and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement he released on Thursday, 2nd February, 2023, said of the results of the Presidential election:

“The ongoing electoral process in Nigeria is widely viewed as deeply flawed by election observers and many Nigerians.

“It is disappointing to see the administration rush to embrace the result while the full picture of what occurred during this electoral process is yet to be seen.

“I’ve expressed similar concerns related to other areas of our relationship with the Nigerian Government. I worry this rush to judgement will undermine our ability to be an effective partner to all Nigerians, especially given their long-standing desire for democracy.

“With Nigeria heading into state-level elections in just a few days, it is important that the United States be more concerned with supporting the Nigerian people and their democratic aspirations than embracing the Nigerian   Government.”

The Presidential Election was won by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, he beat the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and that of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to the second and third places. The three Candidates won 12 States each, but Tinubu garnered more number of Votes.

The election was generally seen as allegedly flawed by not a few Nigerians. Both Atiku and Obi reject the results and have headed to the Courts to challenge the outcome.

However, Tinubu insists that the process that produced him was transparent.