Tinubu’s team presents Nigeria’s grim election murders to US press
Festus Keyamo, the chief spokesperson for the Tinubu-Shettima presidential campaign council, has presented grim records of Nigeria’s elections’ murders, since 1964, to the American press. The council’s publicity team is in the United States to engage the American press on what transpired during the Nigeria’s 2023 elections.
In his speech to members of the American media, Keyamo stated that the latest election had seen the fewest deaths in the history of Nigerian elections.
According to him, the elections recorded “less than one percent violence” across the 176,974 polling units where the exercise took place.
“How could these have affected the overall results of the elections?, Keyamo, a junior minister asked rhetorically.
He added, “the statistics show that 2023 recorded the lowest casualty rates ever. During the 1964/65 elections about 200 deaths were recorded as a result of election violence; 1993 election recorded 100 deaths; 1999 election recorded 80 deaths.
“2003 polls recorded 100 deaths and 2007 polls recorded 300 deaths. The 2011 polls recorded 800 deaths, the 2015 polls recorded 100 deaths and the 2019 polls recorded 150 deaths. However, the 2023 polls recorded no more than 28 deaths as a result of election violence. So, the claim that this is the “worst” election so far is totally unfounded.”
Keyamo also countered the opposition’s claims that the Bi-modal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) electoral umpires had used for the elections failed.
“All the local and international observers scored the use of BVAS very high, with one local body called YIAGA, working in coalition with the EU and other International Observers, saying it recorded 88% success in all the polling units it monitored.”
He added that Nigerian lawyers’ body –Nigeria Bar Association– equally differed with the opposition, stating that “only 8 percent of voters” were dissatisfied with the process.
