The United States Institute of Peace has denied making a prediction about the outcome of the 2019 presidential election.
The organisation , in a statement on Wednesday , said its report on the risks to a peaceful 2019 election in the country was misreported by a media organisation .
USIP , according to the statement , said its activities are limited to preventing electoral violence, noting that the institute is non – partisan .
The statement said , “A few Nigerian newspapers reported erroneously this week that the US 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 misreported this passage as a USIP prediction of the outcome , and other Nigerian news organisations repeated the error . As USIP is a strictly non – partisan institution , its work on elections focuses entirely on preventing violence . ”
