US Ambassador: Presidential election failed to meet Nigerians’ expectations

Mary Leonard, the US ambassador to Nigeria, emphasized yesterday that the nation’s citizens’ expectations for the most recent presidential election were not met.
In an opinion piece, the US ambassador noted that even though Nigerians showed their commitment to democracy on February 25, there were still a lot of irate and frustrated citizens of the country.

On the other hand, she claimed that many Nigerians are also celebrating victories they feel were earned after a long struggle.
But she emphasized that it will be crucial for the future of the nation that Nigerians remain united despite their differences and that the legally prescribed procedure for handling election-related challenges be allowed to proceed.
The ambassador praised Mr. Bola Tinubu, who the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the winner of the presidential election in Nigeria, for acknowledging Mr. Peter Obi and Mr. Atiku Abubakar’s right to pursue their legal options and their recent statements pledging to do so.

Read Also: President of Ukraine, Zelensky, under fire after congratulating Tinubu

Election-related controversy and conflict are nothing new in the United States. Even though ending an election in a court can be unsatisfying, in a constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law, that is where electoral disputes may properly come to a resolution.

It is evident that the February 25 electoral process as a whole fell short of the expectations of Nigerians. In just the two plus decades since the return to democracy, Nigeria has accomplished much, as I stated numerous times prior to the elections, and a gradual improvement in the caliber of its elections in that time constitutes one of those accomplishments.
The use of new technology to make the process of reporting results more transparent is one way that Nigerians want this positive trend to continue, Leonard said.
She reaffirmed the need for INEC to address issues as soon as possible before the March 11 gubernatorial elections and to conduct a wider investigation into the issues that arose during the previous elections and what could be done to address them.

The US ambassador emphasized that INEC should inform Nigerian citizens about the actions it is taking in all circumstances.
She also emphasized a few of the remarkable election results that demonstrate how Nigeria’s political landscape ‘is undeniably changing.
According to Leonard, the winning candidate in 20 out of the 50 states represented a party other than the one of the governors who was already in office.
She claimed that the governors of 12 of these states are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and that the top three candidates each won 12 states based on these preliminary results, marking the first time that all four presidential candidates won at least one state.

Seven sitting governors who were running for the National Assembly lost their bids, according to Leonard, who claimed that even though the results aren’t in yet, the US already knows that changes are coming.
The Labour Party (LP) has at least seven seats in the Senate, according to her, while the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has at least 11 seats in the House of Representatives.

We firmly believe that the Nigerian people have the right to express their desire for responsive and inclusive governance.

Read Also: Naira Redesign: SERAP demands Buhari’s to obey Supreme Court order

The world’s two biggest presidential democracies and longtime allies are the United States and Nigeria. We support you in whatever challenges Nigeria faces over the coming weeks and months, the ambassador said.