Poll report 'will incite Nigeria'

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Nigerian officials have hit out at a report by EU election monitors which was critical of the polls that brought President Umaru Yar'Adua to power.

The national electoral commission said the EU mission was "deliberately trying to incite Nigerians".

While Senate President David Mark said European election templates do not transfer easily to African countries.

Mr Yar'Adua has set up an electoral reform committee following criticism of widespread fraud in last April's polls.

'Africa different'

"We take strong exceptions to the EU monitor's choice of language," Philip Umeadi, the electoral commission's spokesman told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

In the report released on Thursday, the European Union observer mission said there could be no confidence in the election results because of substantial evidence of fraud and lack of transparency.

"We admit the fact that there were flaws, but those flaws did not substantially affect the outcome of the elections," Mr Umeadi said.

"You are calling for a cancellation of the results when there are cases before the tribunals. What have you set out to achieve?"

His comments were echoed by Nigeria's Senate president.

"When there's a template in Europe and you bring that template here and try to mark us on that template, it is going to be very difficult," he said.

The newly appointed 22-member electoral reform committee is to be headed by a retired chief justice.

Correspondents say its remit is broad and there are doubts about whether its recommendations will be implemented and whether they would make a difference.