Amid accusations of voter fraud and concerns over technical glitches, the United States congratulated Nigeria on the election of ruling party presidential candidate Bola Tinubu and urged for calm.
The State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, acknowledged the discontent among some Nigerians over the validity of the results and urged political leaders to register their concerns through established legal “mechanisms.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken also discussed the election aftermath with his Nigerian counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama, on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in New Delhi.
The Independent National Electoral Commission declared Tinubu the winner of the February 25 polls with 8.8 million votes. However, at least one opposition figure has promised to dispute the outcome.
The new biometric voter identification technology, which Nigerian officials had hoped would make the election the cleanest yet, malfunctioned, resulting in long delays and slow results that fueled accusations of fraud. The State Department called on all parties to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time.
