Garba Shehu: 98% of Nigerians voted without intimidation during presidential poll

Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, says it is wrong to say the February 25 presidential election was marred by violence.

Speaking in a chat with Arise TV on Thursday, Shehu said “98 or 99 percent of Nigerians voted in a free environment without fear or any sort of intimidation”.

TheCable had reported cases of electoral violence during the presidential election.

Disruption of voting was reported in Lagos, Katsina, Delta and Edo states.

In Plateau, suspected thugs invaded the state collation centre and the incident hampered the announcement of results.

Shehu said the reports of electoral violence were only “a few isolated cases”, adding that the election was an improvement on the previous polls in the country.

“The talks about violence, I have seen a few of these reports and I do not deny that,” the presidential spokesperson said.

“But to say that this election has been characterised by violence, nobody can justifiably say so. Yes, a few isolated cases but all of the things we saw were significant departures from the past.

“For this, I believe this country has every reason to be thankful to the law enforcement agencies because they were effective and they made sure that 98, 99% percent of Nigerians voted in a free environment without fear or any sort of intimidation.”

Ahead of the governorship and state assembly elections billed for Saturday, Babagana Monguno, national security adviser (NSA), has assured Nigerians that security agencies will work round the clock to protect voters.