The controversy surrounding the European Union Election Observation Mission’s (EUEOM) final report on Nigeria’s 2023 election which found irregularities in the process was part of efforts by the EU to stop Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s February 25th victory, former minister of aviation, Femi Fani Kayode, said on Wednesday.
Mr Fani-Kayode, an All Progressives Congress, APC chieftain, said the aim of the report was to discredit and tarnish President Tinubu’s victory by concluding that the 2023 presidential election was marred with irregularities and rigged.
Fani-Kayode in a tweet said the EU report on the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria is the biggest and best example of fake news and it belongs in the dustbin.
“There is not one thing we said during the campaign about the antics of the opposition, their foreign collaborators, their friends and backers in identifiable sections of the Nigerian and international media and their subterranean and covert co-conspirators in the then corridors of powers that is not true.
“We have not forgotten what they subjected us to, what they did to us and the role each and every one of them played.
“Their collective intention was to stop PBAT and, thanks be to God, they failed.
“The truth is that the EU is still smarting over the fact that it’s preferred candidate lost.
“We know what happened behind the scenes but that is a story for another day. The most important thing is that PBAT prevailed.
“Now they are trying to diminish, discredit and tarnish his victory by saying that the election was flawed with irregularities and rigged and that his front line generals and warriors, who stood with him in the heat of battle, indulged in fake news.
They are nothing but poor losers and lost souls and whether they like it or not PBAT is here to stay and, God-willing, will lead Nigeria for the next 8 years!
“I am glad that the Presidency has responded to their dishonest, disrespectful and contemptuous report in a decisive and appropriate manner.”
It would be recalled that EU in its report tagged Festus Keyamo and Fani Kayode as peddlers of fake news during the 2023 general elections.
The election monitoring body in its published report quoted some fake news attributed to Keyamo and Fani-Kayode.
“On 12 February, Festus Keyamo from APC promoted information published by a suspicious website, accusing Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi of bribery.
“The story quickly became viral and was in a few hours debunked.
“Femi Fani-Kayode made a claim on February 11, 2023, that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar had a secret meeting with serving military generals in Abuja.
“He accused Atiku of wanting to incite chaos, provoke a coup d’état, and establish a new and unconstitutional order.
“Fani-Kayode posted this claim across multiple social media platforms and it garnered 281.2k total impressions.
“The next day, he posted that the Army denied reports about a meeting between its officers and Atiku.”