US, Europe Underrated Thuggery, Rigging During 2023 Elections – Shehu Sani

 

A former federal lawmaker, Shehu Sani has spoken about the 2023 elections.

 

Accordiing to him, the United States and European nations under-estimated thuggery and rigging which was paramount in the last election.

 

The human rights activist said although the outcome of the presidential poll is being contested in court, observers from outside Africa have returned to their countries.

 

Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, and Atiku Abubakar, his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, counterpart are challenging the victory of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

 

In a Twitter post on Monday, Sani noted that before the poll, half of the hotels in the Federal capital, Abuja were booked by European, American and Canadian donor agencies and foundations.

 

“They brought their experts who gave all sorts of lectures & training on elections. They had no knowledge of thugs, manipulations & vote buying,” he wrote.

 

Sani noticed that missions from the US and Europe already left, “but those from Togo, Benin, Chad, Niger and Cameroon are still much around. May be waiting for the tribunal judgement”.

 

The former Kaduna Central Senator, in another tweet, accused the federal government of not showing readiness to arrest and prosecute those who undermined the process.

 

The politician charged foreign governments to activate visa ban, flights and banking restrictions against such individuals for promoting violence, ethnic or religious hate.

 

There were several cases of intimidation and attack on voters during the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections and the March 18 governorship and state assembly elections.