2023 election, an improvement compared to previous polls – Forum for National Unity

The National Unity Forum, NUF, a civil society organization, on Sunday said the 2023 general elections were an improvement on previous polls held in Nigeria, despite challenges witnessed during the exercise.

The Forum made the assertion during a rally in Abuja on Sunday.

The National Coordinator of the Forum, Comrade Godwin Meliga, speaking to journalists during the rally, pointed out that although no election could be 100 percent perfect anywhere in the world, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, managed to ease the tense situation in the country. country with the way he conducted the election.

According to him, a compromised electoral process could have triggered violent upheavals across the country and, therefore, threatened the structures of Nigeria’s corporate existence as a nation.

Meliga said: “Nowhere in the world will elections be 100 percent perfect. Nigeria is a growing democracy. We come from the time of Professor Maurice Iwu. No election will take place and people will not protest the result, especially those who lost.

“But whatever happens today, we believe that the current INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, has brought many innovations to the Commission.

“The fact that the CENI was clearly frank in the exercise of its mandate during the last general elections went a long way to disarming all those who harbored sinister intentions for the country, including all those who would wish to take advantage benefit from the triggering of a widespread electoral campaign. violence to achieve their narrow agenda of destabilization of Nigeria.

The Forum commended the CENI for its strenuous efforts to ensure the success and credibility of the 2023 general elections.

Meliga added that the Forum will continue to collaborate with the CENI and the National Assembly to strengthen the country’s electoral laws and the democratic process.

The Forum, in the same vein, called on Nigerians to pray for President Bola Tinubu, the 36 state governors and all those in leadership positions as they strive to address the country’s economic challenges.

Meliga noted that while some Nigerians may resort to acts of civil disobedience and open protests in order to express their disenchantment with the socio-economic and political challenges facing Nigeria, the Forum resorted to prayer because that it was the best option for the country at the moment. moment.