Festus Keyamo, spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign has confirmed the number of deaths recorded in this year’s election.
This was contained in the text of The Parley held with the International Media at the National Press Center, Washington D.C, United States on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, by representatives of the President-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Keyamo said that although there were reports of some irregularities and violence in some polling units, the numbers of casualties were less compared to previous elections since 1964.
He added that regardless, the event didn’t affect the overall outcome of the elections which his principal emerged winner having secured the highest number of votes.
The Federal Minister of State for Labour and Employment was hopeful that future elections would be death free.
He said:
“There are 176,974 polling units in Nigeria and infractions and violence were recorded in less than one percent of these units.
“How could these have affected the overall results of the elections? Whilst we look forward to an era when there would be no single casualty during elections in Nigeria, however, the statistics show that 2023 recorded the lowest casualty rates ever.
“During the 1964/65 elections about 200 deaths were recorded as a result of election violence; 1993 election recorded 100 deaths; 1999 election recorded 80 deaths; 2003 polls recorded 100 deaths and 2007 polls recorded 300 deaths.
“The 2011 polls recorded 800 deaths, the 2015 polls recorded 100 deaths and the 2019 polls recorded 150 deaths.
“However, the 2023 polls recorded no more than 28 deaths as a result of election violence. So, the claim that this is the ‘worst’ election so far is totally unfounded.”
