>Morning, frenz
>nothing to see here…move long…
>What's this all about?
first articles election related.
safest and securest.
Bidan regime didn't want someone running the country.
U.S. Hailed Nigeria Election Results While Election Observers Cried Foul
When and how Washington congratulates foreign leaders on contentious election victories matters.
March 6, 2023, 4:17 PM
As independent U.S. election observers raised alarm bells about widespread voting irregularities in Nigeria’s Feb. 25 presidential elections, the U.S. State Department was singing an entirely different tune, congratulating Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the electoral victor and hailing a “competitive election” that “represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.”
The stark split screen in how independent election observers and the State Department responded to Nigeria’s election caused anger and backlash in Washington among other U.S. agencies and Congress, which criticized the State Department for being too quick to endorse an election victor just as opposition leaders were mounting legal challenges to contest the outcome.
“While other world powers were cautiously assessing all the voting irregularities and withholding the congrats messages, we just decided to skip ahead a few steps and tout Tinubu as the winner, and I just can’t understand why,” fumed one U.S. official who works on African policy, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Given the stakes here, [it’s] hard to see how that wasn’t just a really bad idea,” said another U.S. official.
Nigeria’s presidential vote constituted one of the most closely watched and significant elections of the year. The 70-year-old Tinubu—former governor of Nigeria’s Lagos state, who is seen as a wealthy kleptocratic kingmaker in Nigerian politics—competed against leading opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar and third-party candidate Peter Obi. The elections were marred by widespread accounts of voter irregularities, sporadic violence at polling stations, disorderly delays, and other logistical issues.
“These were the first elections of the year in the largest democracy on the youngest continent,” said Mark Green, president and CEO of the Wilson Center and former chief of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “They’re important for Nigeria obviously and the consolidation of democracy. They’re important to the region because stability in Nigeria is the linchpin to stability in that whole region.”
The U.S. message to Tinubu, which acknowledged frustrations for Nigerians and shortcomings in the process, stands in sharp contrast to how the United States reacted to Kenya’s 2022 presidential election. In that case, Washington waited until the Kenyan Supreme Court upheld the results of the election—nearly a full month later—before issuing a statement congratulating William Ruto on his win.
Critics of the administration’s stance on the Nigerian election argue that a statement from the State Department isn’t just a statement. The United States has significant political and diplomatic clout in West Africa, and some U.S. officials who spoke to Foreign Policy said its decision to publicly congratulate Tinubu before legal and legitimate election challenges could be played out could indirectly undermine those challenges before they even begin.
“The ongoing electoral process in Nigeria is widely viewed as deeply flawed by election observers and many Nigerians,” said U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It is disappointing to see the administration rush to embrace the result while the full picture of what occurred during this electoral process is yet to be seen.”
>U.S. Hailed Nigeria Election Results While Election Observers Cried Foul
>What's this all about?
first articles election related.
safest and securest.
Bidan regime didn't want someone running the country.
U.S. Hailed Nigeria Election Results While Election Observers Cried Foul
When and how Washington congratulates foreign leaders on contentious election victories matters.
March 6, 2023, 4:17 PM
As independent U.S. election observers raised alarm bells about widespread voting irregularities in Nigeria’s Feb. 25 presidential elections, the U.S. State Department was singing an entirely different tune, congratulating Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the electoral victor and hailing a “competitive election” that “represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.”
The stark split screen in how independent election observers and the State Department responded to Nigeria’s election caused anger and backlash in Washington among other U.S. agencies and Congress, which criticized the State Department for being too quick to endorse an election victor just as opposition leaders were mounting legal challenges to contest the outcome.
“While other world powers were cautiously assessing all the voting irregularities and withholding the congrats messages, we just decided to skip ahead a few steps and tout Tinubu as the winner, and I just can’t understand why,” fumed one U.S. official who works on African policy, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Given the stakes here, [it’s] hard to see how that wasn’t just a really bad idea,” said another U.S. official.
Nigeria’s presidential vote constituted one of the most closely watched and significant elections of the year. The 70-year-old Tinubu—former governor of Nigeria’s Lagos state, who is seen as a wealthy kleptocratic kingmaker in Nigerian politics—competed against leading opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar and third-party candidate Peter Obi. The elections were marred by widespread accounts of voter irregularities, sporadic violence at polling stations, disorderly delays, and other logistical issues.
“These were the first elections of the year in the largest democracy on the youngest continent,” said Mark Green, president and CEO of the Wilson Center and former chief of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “They’re important for Nigeria obviously and the consolidation of democracy. They’re important to the region because stability in Nigeria is the linchpin to stability in that whole region.”
The U.S. message to Tinubu, which acknowledged frustrations for Nigerians and shortcomings in the process, stands in sharp contrast to how the United States reacted to Kenya’s 2022 presidential election. In that case, Washington waited until the Kenyan Supreme Court upheld the results of the election—nearly a full month later—before issuing a statement congratulating William Ruto on his win.
Critics of the administration’s stance on the Nigerian election argue that a statement from the State Department isn’t just a statement. The United States has significant political and diplomatic clout in West Africa, and some U.S. officials who spoke to Foreign Policy said its decision to publicly congratulate Tinubu before legal and legitimate election challenges could be played out could indirectly undermine those challenges before they even begin.
“The ongoing electoral process in Nigeria is widely viewed as deeply flawed by election observers and many Nigerians,” said U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It is disappointing to see the administration rush to embrace the result while the full picture of what occurred during this electoral process is yet to be seen.”