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”.
The 2023 general elections witnessed a wide spread reports of violence, voter Intimidation and harassment, as well as ethnic profiling of voters. These actions left several persons dead while some are still recuperating in the hospital.
Lending her voice in condemning the process which several observers said wasn’t free and fair, famous author Chimamanda Adichie in her recent open letter to US President, Joe Biden, told the US president not to give legitimacy to the the product of the exercise as it was tainted with violence and electoral malpractices, as such that the electoral umpire abandoned its own rules and the guidelines for the conduct of the election.
But Alake described the accusations in Adichie’s letter 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?”
