The United States has said the
February 25 election in Nigeria “failed to meet” the expectations of Nigerians.
“The people of Nigeria demonstrated
their dedication to democracy on February 25, but there are many angry and
frustrated Nigerians as well as many who are celebrating victories, they
believe were hard-fought and well-earned,” US Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth
Leonard said in a statement on Sunday.
“It is clear that the
electoral process as a whole on 25 February failed to meet Nigerians’
expectations,” she added.
According to the official
count, Bola Tinubu took the top spot in the presidential race with 8.7 million
votes, followed by Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with
6.9 million and Labor Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi with 6.1 million votes.
Both the PDP and LP have
announced they will challenge the results in court.
Leonard said it will be
important for the future of the country that Nigerians not let their
differences divide them, and that the legally established process for resolving
challenges to the election be allowed to take its course.
“We commend Mr. Obi and Mr.
Abubakar for their recent statements committing to take this path (Legal path),
and Mr. Tinubu, who the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
declared the president-elect under Nigeria’s electoral framework, for
acknowledging their right to do so,” she said.
The ambassador said: “The
United States is no stranger to election-related controversy and conflict. As
much as it can be unsatisfying to end an electoral process in a courtroom, in a
constitutional democracy bound by the rule of law, that is where electoral
conflicts may appropriately conclude.”
She noted that Nigeria has
accomplished much in just over two decades since its return to democracy, and a
gradual improvement in the quality of its elections in that time constitutes
one of those accomplishments.
“We recognize that Nigerians
want that positive trend to continue, including through the use of new
technology intended to make the process of reporting results more transparent,”
Leonard said.
Many Nigerians raised concerns
after the INEC decided to manually transmit results, opting against using an
existing instant transmission system.
The US reiterated its call on
INEC to address promptly the challenges that can be resolved ahead of the March
11 gubernatorial elections, and to undertake a broader review of the problems
that transpired during the last elections and what can be done to fix them.
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