The European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS has dismissed reports that it rejected an invitation from Nigeria’s electoral commission to observe the 2027 general elections, calling the claims inaccurate.
In a statement Monday, EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, confirmed the delegation did receive INEC’s formal invitation, dated April 17th, and responded on July 28th, but not with a decline. Instead, the EU says it will deploy what’s called an Electoral Expert Mission: a smaller team of two to four independent experts, formally accredited as observers, who’ll assess whether the election meets international and national democratic standards and produce a report with recommendations.
The EU specifically rejected earlier claims that its decision was driven by Nigeria’s security situation or alleged hostile treatment of its observers after the 2023 elections, calling those reasons — quote — “pure speculations” that were not in the correspondence to INEC.
Reacting to the earlier, now-disputed reports, the opposition PDP had called the alleged EU pullback a vote of no confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process under the current administration, accusing the government of undermining opposition parties ahead of 2027.
The EU has urged journalists to verify claims about its positions directly with its press office before publishing.
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