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A civil society group, National Unity Forum (NUF) has said that the 2023 general election was an improvement on the previously held elections in Nigeria amid the criticism of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu by disgruntled Nigerians.
The groups during a rally in Abuja on Sunday, February 25, 2024, also called on Nigerians to pray for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the 36 state governors and all others in positions of authority in the country and the INEC boss.
Comrade Godwin Meliga, the National Coordinator of NUF, who spoke to newsmen during the rally said while some Nigerians may resort to acts of civil disobedience and open protests to express their displeasure with the prevailing socio-economic and political challenges facing the country, his group resorted to praying because it was the best option for the country at the moment.
He said, “There’s nowhere in the world where elections will be 100% perfect. Nigeria is a growing democracy. We are coming from the Professor Maurice Iwu era. There’s no election that will hold and people will not protest against it, especially those who lost.
“But whatever happens today, we believe that the current INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has brought a lot of innovations into the Commission.
He said as a group, the NUF will continue to collaborate with the electoral umpire and the National Assembly to strengthen the electoral laws and the country’s democratic processes.
This is coming 24 hours after the electoral umpire released a 526-page document titled, ‘The Report of 2023 General Election’ in which the commission declared that the 2023 election reflected the wishes of Nigerians.
The commission described the election free and fair.