JUST IN: pro-Tinubu protesters storm EU Secretariat

Members of Coalition of Civil Society Organisation and Political Parties for Good Governance stormed the national secretariat of the European Union in Abuja to demonstrate against its report on the 2023 presidential election.

The demonstrators, numbering over a hundred, marched from National Hospital to the EU office displaying several banners that read, ‘Nigerians reject EU election observer report’, ‘Don’t trigger violence in Nigeria’ and ‘We say No to manipulated report.’

The group demanded to see the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms Samuela Isopi and Deputy Head of the EU to Nigeria, Alexandre Borges-Gomes.

According to the report presented by its Chief Observer, Barry Andrews, the EU-EOM held that though the elections were held on schedule, it lacked transparency as noticeable irregularities and operational failures also reduced trust in the electoral process.

Speaking with the coordinator of the coalition, Dr Ene Ogbole,  he faulted the report, saying it was a deliberate attempt to create chaos in the country.

She said, Every election held across the world including the United States of America, Great Britain and even the European Union countries have their peculiarities. The election that produced President Bola Tinubu was one of the most transparent in the history of Nigeria.

Ogbole also queried why the union resorted to taking its report to the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to make its point.

Similarly, Danjuma Mohammed another high-ranking member of the coalition, said the EU election report was orchestrated by detractors of Nigeria’s democracy and called on Nigerians to reject it.

Meanwhile, protocol officersall said the EU ambassador to Nigeria and the union’s deputy head  were in a meeting at the time of the incident.