2019: US Institute Denies Predicting Buhari’s Victory

The United States Institute for Peace, USIP has denied media reports in Nigeria that it predicted a victory for President Muhammadu Buhari in the forthcoming presidential election.

In a rebuttal to the news reports, the widely respected USIP said that its observations on the Nigeria election did not make the prediction but that its work was confined to on how peace could be promoted.

The report by the USIP had been celebrated by supporters of Buhari including the Buhari Media Organisation, BMO.

In its rebuttal, the USIP said:

“A few Nigerian newspapers reported erroneously this week that the U.S. Institute of Peace has made a prediction about the possible outcome of Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election. USIP never makes predictions about election outcomes and has not done so in this case. The Institute’s work on elections is confined to helping nations avoid electoral violence.

“The erroneous news accounts misrepresent USIP’s recent 20-page report on the risks to a peaceful 2019 election in Nigeria. This study is based on interviews across the country with more than 200 Nigerian respondents—election administrators, political party representatives, security officials, civil society and youth groups, the media, traditional and religious leaders, prominent community figures, business people, academics and others.

“The USIP report noted that, in the interviews, “some respondents” discussed their own views of Nigerian public perceptions about an election outcome. A Nigerian news account mis-reported this passage as a USIP prediction of the outcome, and other Nigerian news organizations repeated the error.

“As USIP is a strictly nonpartisan institution, its work on elections focuses entirely on preventing violence.”

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