The Financial Times of London has joined a growing number of individuals, organizations, and groups condemning Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election.
The global newspaper advised the courts to take a hard look at the emergence of the president-elect, Mr. Bola Tinubu if his victory was challenged in court by his opponents.
Financial Times said that they witnessed armed men remove a presidential ballot box in Surulere, Lagos.
“Violence was troubling. Party goons invaded many polling stations in what appeared to be blatant acts of intimidation”, the paper said.
It further added, “More worrying still was voter turnout, which was pitifully low at 27 per cent. If official results are right, two-thirds of the 87 million people who lined up for hours to collect their voter registration cards failed to cast their ballot. Apathy cannot explain it.
“Something, including the possibility of widespread voter suppression, must have prevented them from voting. Total turnout of 25mn votes in a country of 220mn people is unacceptably low.
“Tinubu’s tally of 8.8 million gives him the weakest of mandates.”
The paper recalled that the courts in Kenya in 2017 and Malawi in 2020 had overturned suspect elections, maintaining that if Nigeria’s courts find suspicions, they should not shrink from annulling individual contests or even the whole result.
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