A coalition of civil society organisations involved in elections monitoring, the West African Network of Election Observers (WANEO), has condemned the statement credited to Amnesty International on the recently concluded general elections in Nigeria, describing it as offensive.

Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, the General Secretary of the group, who was represented by Umezinwa Michael, stated that “the just concluded election in Nigeria, particularly Kano, was free and fair and ditto for other states across the country, despite few challenges experienced in some states.”

The Network lambasted Amnesty International, saying that the comment credited to it seeks to suggest that Kano is an exceptional case of electoral violence. “We insist that these comments were made in bad faith and in pursuit of a predetermined agenda,” the coalition said.

WANEO, however, welcomed “comments and contributions of other international observers like ECOWAS teams, European Union and Commonwealth.”

The coalition urged the Amnesty International to desist from making comments capable of inciting the citizens of Nigeria, especially in Kano, saying that “Amnesty International is not an election observer but rather a human rights organisation.”

While acknowledging that the electoral process was not perfect, WANEO said it would constitute an independent civil society fact findings mission to visit Benue, Kano and River states by the third week of April to comprehensively assess the situation and make its recommendation to the government.

Update news