Award winning writer and renowned novelist, Chimamanda Adichie, has doubled down on her criticism of the conduct of the 2023 presidential election.
Recall that Chimamanda had, in a letter to United States president, Joe Biden, warned him against legitimising the election which she described as ‘deliberately manipulated’
Ramping up her castigation of independence national electoral commission (INEC), Chimamanda said the electoral umpire’s excuse that there were technical glitches in real-time uploading of presidential election results was not convincing and unbelievable.
Adichie, who spoke on Arise News on Monday, maintained that INEC’s refusal to upload results in real-time was done on purpose to manipulate the outcome of the election.
She also noted that rigging of the election started long before the poll through systemic voters disenfranchisement when INEC refused to give voter card to those who registered for their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
“I tried very hard because I had been assured that technology would save us… and we should also talk about how difficult it was to collect PVCs and how that in itself is a form of voter disenfranchisement,” she opined
She pointed out that one of the most glaring evidences of the manipulation of the poll were mutilated election sheets and polling units agents publicly speaking about how results from the polling units were different from official announcements.
“It was not about technical glitches. Can we also realise that Nigeria is full of very bright young people in tech. There’s no reason for that excuse of technical glitch. And the other question then is, if it was a technical glitch, why was it possible for most people to upload the results of the other federal elections, but not the presidential?
“And I think most of all, is that there’s just been this resounding, unfortunate silence from INEC and from the chairman of INEC. I think Nigerians deserve the respect of an institution that’s supposed to shepherd their democracy. So nobody has come out to explain to Nigerians how that happened.
“There’s a statement about technical glitches that is not convincing. And knowing how much hope and trust that Nigerians invested in this election, knowing that Nigeria is a low trust society, I think that if people really are sincere and there’s really nothing to hide, then you make an extra effort to go out and explain to Nigerians what happened,” she argued.