Partner for Electoral Reform, an election monitoring group, has said that there were many positive outcomes from the just concluded 2023 general election.
The group, therefore, cautioned Nigerians not to allow politicians use their propaganda machines to drive narratives that paint the elections as the worst in the country’s history.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Convener of the group, Ezenwa Nwagwu, said most of the commentaries after the elections had been from a position of propaganda, and in most cases founded on ignorance of history and ignorance of the process of election.
According to him, the politicians were out to criminalise the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and make it look weak.
He urged Nigerians “to save the institution and protect it, stating: “The country needs to be nuanced in the way it engages in elections. It must engage elections from an informed point of view so that partisan interests do not overshadow the commentary.”
Speaking further Nwagwu acknowledged that there was violence, suppression of votes during the elections, however, it would be unfair to use violence in a few polling units to judge the entire process that happened in 176, 000 polling units.
The convener said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine was still a game changer in the election and most politicians especially those who could not rig are not pleased with the reforms introduced by INEC.