By Gabriel Olawale

A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) under the aegis of Citizens Observers Hub, has criticized the February 25 presidential elections in Nigeria, saying that the process wasn’t free, fair and credible.
Speaking during a world press conference in Lagos, election and policy expert, Ambassador Chris Iyama said that despite the fact that Nigerians came out en masse to vote, the Independent National Electoral Commission was used to frustrate the will of the electorate.
While describing the just concluded general election as one of the worst elections ever conducted by INEC, Iyamu said that INEC broke its own rules in the middle of the game, not minding the feelings of over 200 million citizens of this country.
Iyama who is the Country Director of Equity International Initiative, outlined the glitches, including the late arrival of INEC staff and failure to upload the results as the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu promised before the election, the malfunctioning Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and underage voting in the northern part of the country, as seen in video clips.
While cautioning that none should undermine the democracy the nation enjoys in this country, he said the results collated in Abuja did not meet with what their observers sent into their data centre.
Corroborating his views, Amb. Paul Church of the African Youth Forum, said that the coalition launched the citizen situation room in Jos in February, with over 30 data analysts observing and collating data from their field observers across the country.
 “Citizens Observers Hub mobilised over 2,700 observers across Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and deployed over 774 local government coordinators to observe the election. We had different key stakeholders to look at the challenges we might experience in the election. “Our over 2,700 observers were at polling units as early as 6.44am before the arrival of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”
Michael Nwabufo however called on international bodies not to fall for the purported results of the February 25 presidential elections.
“We are asking international bodies not to fall for the purported results. We are calling for help. This election on the 25th is not free, fair and credible. It has fallen short of international best practices. We are hoping that the different coalition will head to court and ensure that justice is served.”