Attahiru Jega, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, has refuted claims that the 2023 elections were tainted.
Jega allegedly made this statement during a two-day retreat that the Senate hosted in Ikot Ipene, Akwa Ibom State, last week.
In a paper he presented titled, “Electoral Reform and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: Review of 2022 Electoral Act (areas for further legislative actions),” a political science professor from Bayero University in Kano was quoted as saying, “We have seen in the 2023 elections the damaging effect of how people in the corridors of power get their client/partisan nominees appointed, without being thoroughly screened, and then they are influenced to compromise the electoral process.
However, in a statement on Monday, his senior research assistant, Hamman-Obels, claimed that the paper did not accurately reflect his views.
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“The attention of Prof. Attahiru Jega has been drawn to a misleading report published in a number of online newspapers quoting him to have commented that the 2023 elections were compromised,” said Hamman-Obels, who is also the director of the Electoral Hub, an Initiative for Research, Innovation, and Advocacy in Development.
“The report going around is false and does not accurately reflect the presenter’s viewpoint. Professor Jega vehemently denies making this specific remark about the 2023 elections.
As can be observed, he never claimed that the 2023 elections were compromised in his presentation at the Senate Retreat in Ikot Ipene, Akwa Ibom State. The reply provided by Professor Jega is intended to correct the false and misleading information that is currently spreading.
