Mary Beth Leonard, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, has expressed disappointment over the Nigerian presidential polls held on February 25. According to Leonard, the elections did not meet the expectations of Nigerians, leaving many feeling angry and frustrated with the process and outcome.
In an op-ed titled “The Elections of February 25,” Leonard urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to confront the problems that can be fixed before the March 11 gubernatorial elections. She also emphasised the need for a broader review of the issues during the last elections and what can be done to fix them.
Leonard stressed the importance of Nigerians not allowing their differences to divide them and allowing the legally established process for resolving election-related challenges to take its course.
She commended the candidates for their recent statements about this path, including Mr Obi and Mr Abubakar, and Mr Tinubu, who INEC declared the president-elect under Nigeria’s electoral framework, for acknowledging their right to do so.
The ambassador acknowledged that the electoral process on February 25 failed to meet Nigerians’ expectations. She reiterated the call for INEC to promptly address the challenges that can be resolved ahead of the March 11 gubernatorial elections and to share information about its actions with the Nigerian public.
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Leonard also highlighted the remarkable results from the election that show how Nigeria’s political landscape is changing. In more than half of the states, the winning candidate represented a different party than the incumbent governor, and twelve of these states are led by APC governors.
Four presidential candidates won at least one state for the first time, and the top three each won 12 states based on these initial results. The National Assembly elections also saw changes, with seven sitting governors losing in their attempts to win election to the Assembly and the Labor Party and NNPP winning at least seven and 11 seats, respectively.
