Human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, says the final report of the European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission in Nigeria on the 2023 polls is unreliable.
Falana who stated this while speaking on Friday on a Channels Television programme, said it smacked of colonial mentality for Nigerians to start celebrating or debating the EU mission report on the elections.
The EU mission, on Tuesday, in Abuja, presented its report on the 2023 general elections.
The Chief Observer, Barry Andrews, said the report was based on the analysis of compliance with Nigeria’s regional and international commitments for democratic elections.
The observation team noted that the elections exposed enduring systemic weaknesses that needed to be corrected.
But in his reaction to the development, Falana said the reports by local media regarding the elections were “more credible” than what the EU Election Observers presented.
He said, “I’m very reluctant to speak about the report of the EU observers team because it smacks of colonial mentality for us in this age and time to be celebrating the report of the EU observers.
“I have found reports in the local media much more credible than the report of the EU. We should not waste our time debating what the EU observers found.
“For instance, they were saying that about 97 people were killed. The local media have reported about 137 deaths and that has been confirmed by the human rights community.
“I can count other areas that one cannot rely upon.”