By the Editorial Board
Again, the U.S. State Department bungles its messaging on democracy in Nigeria.
In a stunning diplomatic blunder, the United States last Wednesday congratulated Mr. Bola Tinubu as the presumed president-elect of Nigeria, while the opposition have not conceded the election and are mounting a legitimate legal action.
Despite independent U.S. and local election observers raising significant red flags about widespread voting irregularities, including voter intimidation, vote suppression, vote buying, voting equipment malfunction, extensive logistical constraints, and photographic evidence of discrepancies between polling unit vote counts and what was eventually uploaded onto BVAS in Nigeria’s presidential election, the Biden administration rushed to publicly congratulate Mr. Tinubu before valid and legal election challenges could be played out in the courts.
“The United States congratulates the people of Nigeria, president-elect Tinubu and all the political leaders…This ‘competitive’ (emphasize ours) election represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.
Sadly, the State Department statement turned a deaf ear to the growing cries from millions of Nigerians who were disenfranchised and whose votes didn’t count.
This premature and impetuous congratulation is another deliberate election interference for a country with such a lengthy track record of meddling in the political affairs of other democratic African nations.
It is beyond inappropriate for the Biden administration to weigh in at this time when the election results are being contested in court. It hampers America’s credibility and ability to continue to champion democracy and human rights in Nigeria.
Why the rush when Mr. Biden is aware that the election result is being litigated by the opposition? Why not wait till a winner is declared by the court?
What makes this unusual is that just last year, the U.S. waited until the Kenyan Supreme Court upheld the results of the presidential election after more than a month before congratulating the winner, Mr. William Ruto.
We find no recent examples where the U.S. rushed to congratulate someone when there was material and significant evidence of election fraud and voting irregularities as reported in Nigeria by international observers.
We believe the correct thing to do would be to wait till all legal issues are resolved and the courts render decision on the election result. If the Nigerian people are willing to wait, why can’t America wait as long as it takes to decide the legitimate winner?
The opposition are confident that they have credible legal cases to overturn the election result announced by INEC. If and when this happens, America will have a diplomatic egg on its face.
What worries us is the potential consequence of the State department statement, which is imprudent, reckless and dangerous. At a time when the majority of Nigerians are angry that their votes were disenfranchised and the nation at the verge of explosion, the statement pours gasoline on the fire.
Analysis of social media content clearly shows that Nigerians are deeply unhappy with the State Department’s attempt to legitimize an illegitimate president-elect.
The statement handed Tinubu a dangerous leverage and he is taking advantage of it. Now he feels confident enough to threaten the opposition and their supporters. This will only inflame the fire of social and political unrest and mob violence in cities and communities across the country.
The Duplicitous Nature of American Policy In Africa
This rush to congratulate Tinubu epitomizes the duplicitous nature of American policy on representative democracy in Africa: America will align with any election outcome that will serve its best interests irrespective of the long-term damage to the democracy they preach to African nations to strive and seek to emulate.
By rushing to congratulate Tinubu, the State Department is telling millions of Nigerians who were intimidated, abused and not allowed to vote freely, and millions more who voted only to learn that their counted votes were not immediately uploaded into the BVAS servers but were allegedly illegally altered by INEC staff, to piss-off.
In addition, the hypocrisy of congratulating Tinubu prematurely betrays America’s internal contradiction: The US wants to strengthen democracy in Nigeria yet with open hands welcomes an illegitimate president-elect who is accused of rigging the election.
It was just last year, in August 2022, that the Biden Administration released its long-awaited Africa policy, “U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa.” The new policy, according to a statement by President Joe Biden, demonstrates the United States’ enduring commitment to democracy and development in Africa.
Well, the new African policy to uphold democracy failed its first test in Nigeria.
There’s no doubt that Biden pushed the interest and will of the majority of Nigerians to the side and made a mincemeat of democracy when he recognized Tinubu as the winner of the allegedly rigged presidential election, while the opposition are seeking legal remedy.
To Nigerian voters, and the rest of the world, Biden’s betrayal of democracy in Nigeria can only be described as tragic. It demonstrates that America doesn’t live its talk on democracy. Nigerians now know that when it comes to Nigeria, the American ideal of representative democracy is a DINO – Democracy In Name Only.
But why would America risk its reputation on a well-known unindicted coconspirator whom American prosecutors named in an indictment as one who took part in a conspiracy to commit drug trafficking and money laundering crime in the U.S. and who forfeited $460,000 to the U.S. in a settlement deal?
One can only imagine whether and to what extent Tinubu’s unresolved drug matter in the U.S. will be an albatross on his presidency, a top national security threat to Nigeria and a manipulative lever to be pulled to force Tinubu’s cooperation on foreign policy positions, if he becomes president.
We call on the American ambassador in Nigeria to cease and desist from meddling in Nigeria’s presidential election.
