EU denies rejecting INEC invitation to observe Nigeria’s general elections

The European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS has dismissed reports that it rejected an invitation from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to observe Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.

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The EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, in a statement on Monday, said reporting insinuating that the body had rejected INEC’s invitation is inaccurate and speculative.

Mr Mignot confirmed that the body received the letter from the electoral commission in April and wrote back, stating that it will be deploying Electoral Expert Missions for the election, comprising two to four independent observers.

The decision to deploy fewer than five electoral observers was previously reported as the EU’s reluctance to deploy a full mission.

Some news media reported that the bloc was pulling out of Nigeria’s 2027 election observation, and ending its 20 years of election monitoring in the country.

The reports stated that the bloc declined INEC’s invitation and disclosed it was sending a small team in place of a full team of observers. The reports attributed this decision to growing security concerns and hostile treatment of its officials following the 2023 elections.

However, in the statement, Mr Mignot explained that the bloc decided on the team to deploy for election observation based on the situation and the resources available.

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“The European Union decides every year on electoral missions to be sent to partner countries, issuing invitations to the EU and, if the decision is positive, the kind of mission to be sent to each of them, depending on individual situations and available resources.

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“It is on this basis that the decision to conduct an EEM in Nigeria has been taken and will be further consulted with the relevant Nigerian authorities for its implementation,” he said.

He also debunked the reasons provided in the reports for the team of two to four observers.

“The EU Delegation further underlines that the two alleged reasons mentioned in the press reports do not appear in the letter: these are pure speculations.

“This decision does not affect in any way the continuation of the implementation of the EU-funded project “Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria” including its dimension of support to the electoral process,” he added.