Dele Alake, the Special Adviser on Communications to the president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Saturday said the “exaggerated” reports of violence and malpractices in Lagos State “did not occur in up to 1% of these polling units in one or two local government areas”.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that since February 25 when the presidential election in Nigeria was conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commision (INEC), proponents of the Labour Party have accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of political violence.
According to Labour Party supporters, ‘Obidients’ – a sobriquet for supporters of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 election – have suffered more in the hands of agents of the ruling government than any other group of people.
The allegation was echoed by famed author, Chimamanda Adichie in her recent open letter to US President, Joe Biden. But Alake described the accusation as unfounded.
He wrote in a piece: “To demonstrate that the February 25 presidential election was discredited, Chimamanda writes that “There were reports of a shooting at a polling unit, and of political operatives stealing or destroying ballot boxes. In Lagos, a policeman stood idly by as an APC spokesperson threatened members of a particular ethnic group who he believed would vote for the opposition “.
“It is unfortunate that an intellectual of Chimamanda’s stature would rely on rumours and hearsay to pronounce authoritatively on an issue as important as the 2023 elections in her country. She quotes “cousins” and “relatives” in Lagos to back up grievous allegations of violence and massive vote rigging in the election.
“For crying out loud, there are over 176,000 polling units across Nigeria. From what percentage of these polling units did she get her reports and how credible were these sources?
“In Lagos State, there are approximately 13,500 polling units. The exaggerated reports of violence and malpractices in the state did not occur in up to 1% of these polling units in one or two local government areas. How reliable and accurate then is the information which the writer feeds her readers?”
