Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, today, March 8, flew to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, with his wife, Dolapo, where he celebrated his 66th birthday.
Professor Osinbajo settled with the Children’s Trust and Learning Centre in Maiduguri, an educational charity he initiated. It is a private sector-led charity and social engineering initiative incorporated in 2017 with a mission to create innovative, transformational sustainable learning ecosystems that will nurture, renew and empower vulnerable children between ages 5 and 18 years who have become orphans as a result of the insurgency in North-East Nigeria. It has provided comprehensive support to 686 orphans and vulnerable children through accommodation, feeding, quality education and rehabilitative psychosocial support. The Vice President reassured the staff and children of the institution of his commitment to keep providing world class facilities that would make them the best among their peers, regardless of the prevailing socioeconomic conditions. “All of you children who are here, one thing that is very certain is that, God giving me good health and preserving my life, I will ensure that you get the very best. However it is, we will do everything possible to make sure that you get the very best, because that is the promise and pledge that we made when we started.”
Professor Osinbajo said: “My wife and I consider the children of this school our own children; we want to give them the kind of education that our own children have had, which is why everything that is being done here is done to the best standards available anywhere in the world. “If you look at the quality of staff here, quality of equipment and facilities, they are among the best in the world and we keep trying to ensure that our teachers have the best exposure that is possible anywhere in the world. And as we go along, you will see that it can only get better. “So, for me, this school is a very personal thing indeed. I pray and I hope that we will be able to do more and more for these children and for many others as they pass through this school. “What we intend to do in this school as the years go by is to ensure that this school is a model for the world. I was so excited to hear that a number of our children have gone to secondary school and a couple into the university, and I believe one or two will be graduates this year or next. We are going to make sure that our kids get the best education that you can find anywhere in the world. I am looking forward to when children from here will compete and beat children from Harvard and other places around the world.” Earlier today, in the morning, family members and personal staff had joined Professor Osinbajo and his wife at Aguda House to give thanks to God, singing and reading bible passages. There was also a special ministration from popular gospel artist, Dunsin Oyekan.
The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta has said that 50 percent of the Commission’s management team is made up of women.
Professor Danbatta, in a message commemorating the International Women Day (IWD) today, March 8, said that such women have not disappointed in the various areas they are placed, saying that they have excelled.
“About fifty percent of the Commission’s Management team is made up of women who have distinguished themselves, and demonstrated capacity, capability and desirability to contribute to the success of the Commission in promoting and sustaining the growth of the telecoms sector.
He said that the occasion of the International Women Day presents another opportunity to reiterate the Commission’s irrevocable commitment to promoting gender equality and inclusive participation in line with the theme of the celebration: ‘DigitALL: Innovation andTechnology for Gender Equality.’”
“It has been established across the world, and in all parts of human endeavours that inclusion of women in leadership, has contributed in commensurate organic growth, which justifies the notion that development of any nation will be incomplete without the participation and contributions of women.
“This is why we are deliberate, purposeful and conscious of the need to encourage women and girls to partake of the innovative digital opportunities available to them to improve their lives and skills in ways that fulfill their needs and aspirations through their chosen careers.”
The NCC Boss congratulated the women folk, saying that he expected them to continue to play greater roles they have been destined to play in promoting peace and harmony in the world.
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ognwusi, today, March 8, celebrated the International Women Day (IWD) with his Queens, acknowledging the key roles women play in the society.
He shared the photos of the celebration with his wives on Instagram. They are Queen Mariam Anako, Elizabeth Akinmuda, Tobi Phillips, Ashley Adegoke, Ronke Ademiluyi and Temitope Adesegun.
Commemorating the IWD, Ooni wrote: “Today, on International Women’s Day, our ambition must be to renew our pledge of building a global society in which women are given equal honour and the resources they need to achieve their fullest potential.
“Our amazing birthright, cradle, adolescence, and even adulthood are inextricably tied to their aprons. Without their sacrifices, hard work, invaluable efforts, our societies would have fractured, household cultures would have been negatively impacted, and communities would have suffered.”
Oba Ogunwusi listed a number of Nigerian women, both those in the great beyond and those alive, and said the landmark contributions that Nigerian women make across all fields of human endeavour must be celebrated every day.
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has asked a 19-member legal team he assembled to go out there, challenge the presidential election of February 25, 2023 and reclaim his mandate. The PDP presidential candidate, who inaugurated the legal team at his campaign headquarters in Abuja today, March 8, charged it to establish the claim of illegality in the February 25 presidential election and reclaim the mandate of the Nigerian people. Atiku said that apart from reclaiming the mandate from those who undertook the electoral heist that was not the reflection of the will of Nigerians, the legal team should use the opportunity of the trial to strengthen constitutional democracy in the country. He directed the team, headed by Chief J. K. Gadzama SAN, Atiku said that it is imperative that they work assiduously in reclaiming the mandate not necessarily because of him and the PDP, but to strengthen democracy and the electoral process and for generations unborn. Members of the team include Chief Chris Uche (SAN), Paul Usoro (SAN), Tayo Jegede (SAN), Ken Mozia (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Mahmood Magaji (SAN), Joe Abraham (SAN), Mr Chukwuma Umeh (SAN), Dr. Garba Tetengi (SAN) and Chief Emeka Etiaba (SAN). Others are Chief Goddy Uche (SAN), Prof. Maxwell Gidado (SAN); the National Legal Adviser of the PDP, A. K. Ajibade (SAN), Mr. O. M. Atoyebi, (SAN), Mrs. Nella Rabana (SAN), Paul Ogbole (SAN), Nuremi Jimoh (SAN), and Abdul Ibrahim (SAN).
Court of Appeal has granted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) permission to reconfigure its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the Saturday, March 11 Governorship and State Assemblies elections.
A three-member panel of the appellate court , led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh, today, March 8, granted leave to the applicant for the purposes of configuring the BVAS for the election on Saturday. The panel however, asked INEC to upload data to back-end server and make true Certified copy to the respondents. INEC, in its motion, filed on March 4, asked the appellate court to vary the ex parte order made in favour of Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with regards to inspection of materials used for the presidential election. The appellate court had on March 3, granted leave to Atiku Abubakar of the PPD and Peter Obi of Labour Party to inspect election materials used by INEC to conduct the Feb. 25 presidential election. The court granted the duo permission following two separate ex parte applications filed by Atiku and Obi, who came second and third respectively in the presidential election won by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The commission is asking the court to vary the order to allow it to reconfigure its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the March 11 governorship and state houses of assembly elections. Counsel to INEC, Tanimu Inuwa , SAN said the application became necessary following an order restraining it from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified. He added that the commission would require sufficient time to reconfigure the BVAS needed to conduct the election that would take place on Saturday. He told the court that INEC would upload from back-end. In his argument, counsel for Obi, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu , SAN prayed the court not to grant INEC’s application for granting it would mean losing the original information there. ”All we are seeking is for a physical inspection of the BVAS so that the evidence is obtained before it will be configured ” he told the court. He therefore, opposed INEC application and urged the court not to grant it. The three man panel of the appellate court after listening to their submissions adjourned until Wednesday for ruling. Source: NAN.
A member of the British House of Lords, when told that money is difficult to come by these days, said he is nearly 90 years old but cannot remember any time in the past when money was easy to get. I have been watching Nigerian elections since 1979 and I cannot remember a time when those who lost the election did not allege rigging and intimidation. For a time, there was hope that President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 concession phone call could become the norm in Nigeria. It now looks like it was a one-off event. Instead, it was Godsday Orubebe’s 2015 attempt to storm INEC’s National Collation Centre that has endured, with Dino Melaye attempting a poor carbon copy in 2023. The young men and women who are saying on social media that the 2023 election was full of rigging and intimidation, have no personal knowledge of the golden age of rigging and intimidation in Nigerian elections. In this election I saw no reports in the media of thugs snatching ballot boxes and stuffing them. I saw no reports of security agents cordoning off whole polling stations while ballot boxes were being stuffed. There was no story of soldiers scattering voters in any place. Where is the mother of all rigging, when Supreme Court ruled in 1983 that UPN’s Bisi Onabanjo got 1.2million votes, NPN’s Akin Omoboriowo got 500,000 votes but the returning officer added 1 behind the figure and it became N1.5million? This year, the President did not declare the election a do or die. I saw no story of armed hooded security agents descending on a state, as in Ekiti in 2014. There was no story of an opposition governor’s plane denied landing rights at any airport. In 2023, we didn’t have a Police Commissioner Mbu denying an opposition party governor entry into his own Government House. Pray, where in Nigeria in 2023 did we have Police Commissioner Tahir Jidda denying Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe entry into Maiduguri and firing tear gas at Zik, even though Borno State Governor Muhammadu Goni stood beside him? Even the party primaries of last year lacked drama, because we saw nothing like the Babalawo who tried to enter the UPN state congress in Ibadan in 1983 with a live tortoise strapped to his waist. Another youngster wrote on social media that “this generation of Nigerian politicians do not know how to concede, unlike the older generation.” Sorry sir, they actually copied it from the older generation. In 1979, as soon as election results started trickling in, we saw GNPP leader Waziri Ibrahim dashing around to see UPN leader Chief Awolowo and NPP leader Dr. Azikiwe. The three of them, minus PRP leader Aminu Kano who refused to join, appeared together before pressmen, rejected the election results and alleged rigging, even though it was an election conducted by a military government, not like now when APC controls the Federal Government [at least, it used to]. The scene was re-enacted last week when PDP and LP running mates held a joint press conference and tried to present a common front, a case of locking the stables after the horses have bolted. Anyone who trusts such emergency political alliances has another thing coming. In 1979 the opposition parties presented us with a common front up until the Supreme Court upheld the election result. To our utmost surprise, just before Inauguration on October 1, 1979, NPN and NPP announced an accord where they shared legislative and executive posts between them. NPP got Deputy Senate President, House Speaker and several Cabinet posts, including Zik’s running mate Prof Ishaya Audu who became Foreign Minister, Mrs. Janet Akinrinade of Oyo and Paul Unongo of Benue. Who knows now if someone is negotiating under the table? Our local and social media activists who are trying very hard to impress foreign election observers and the Western press by citing scattered incidents of election day problems knowing that White people are sticklers for procedure. They insist on correct procedure even if it produces an undesirable outcome. We Africans, who are wiser, usually walk back from the answer to the question. Our politicians’ measure of the credibility of an election is if they win, not whether or not the procedure was followed. If they don’t win, then the election is not credible. The general African attitude to elections is that the outcome justifies the process. The credible outcome, in African eyes, is usually when the incumbent ruler or party is defeated. Hence, to most Africans, the best elections ever held in Africa were when Morgan Tsvangirai’s party defeated Robert Mugabe’s; when Adama Barrow defeated Yahaya Jammeh in Gambia; when Mohammed Morsi triumphed in Egypt against Hosni Mubarak’s premier; when Jerry Rawlings’ party was defeated in Ghana; when Macky Sall defeated Abdoulaye Wade in Senegal; when Wade himself earlier defeated Abdou Diouf; when Alassane Ouattara defeated Laurent Gbagbo in Ivory Coast; and more recently, when William Ruto triumphed in Kenya despite outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s support for Raila Odinga. African style, let us walk backwards from the result to the credibility question. First, the voter turnout. There were 87 million voters with PVCs in 2023 election but only 24 million voted, or 27%. Now, the starting point of rigging elections is to take advantage of the number of registered voters. Why leave 63 million blank names on the register if you really desire to rig up results? There is no doubt that the technological innovations adopted over the years greatly helped to clean up our elections. Up until 2007, those absent voters will simply have their votes cast for them by a coalition of party agents, election officials and security officers. The winner of this election, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, got only 37% of the vote, down from the 56% that Buhari got in 2019. Now, while 2019 was a two-horse race between the APC and PDP candidates, 2023 was at least a four-horse race between APC, PDP, LP and NNPP candidates. It was the first time since 2007 that we had more than two major candidates in a presidential election and the first time since 1983 that we had up to four major candidates in such a race. The top four candidates in this election got 37%, 29%, 25% and 6% respectively. This compares closely with 1979 when Shagari got 34%, Awo got 29%, Zik got 16%, Aminu Kano got 10.28 and Waziri Ibrahim got 10%. The top three runners up in this race got a combined 60% of the vote. That is impressive, but then, they only have themselves to blame that they did not present a united front before the election. They only tried to present a united front to contest the results. It is a case of locking the stables after the horses have bolted. Would they have made 60% of the vote if they had united behind a single candidate? Nobody will ever know the answer for certain. Tinubu’s party went into this election controlling the Federal and 21 state governments. In the event, he won only 12 states outright. PDP’s Atiku Abubakar also won 12 states, LP’s Peter Obi won 12 states outright [FCT included] while NNPP’s Kwankwaso won outright in one state. So how did Tinubu win the race? Simple. The number of states that a candidate wins outright is important. Equally important is the number of states in which he came second. Also very important is, if he came second with only a narrow margin in most of them. Tinubu won 12 states outright [Zamfara, Jigawa, Borno, Niger, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Rivers]. He came second in 19 states [Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe, Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, Adamawa, Osun, Lagos, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Imo and Ebonyi]. In many cases the margins of loss were very small, only 3,000 votes in Sokoto, 12,000 in Katsina and equally narrow margins in Osun and Lagos. Very important, Tinubu came second to Kwankwaso in Kano, second to Atiku in most of the states the latter won and second to Obi in Lagos, Ebonyi, Imo and Edo. This was exactly how Alhaji Shehu Shagari won the presidency in 1979. He won outright in nine states out of 19 [Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger, Bauchi, Gongola, Benue, Kwara, Rivers and Cross River.] He won in Kaduna and Gongola even though his party lost the governorship elections there two weeks earlier, what in those days was called “the bandwagon effect.” Of the remaining ten states in Nigeria at the time, Shagari came second in 9 [Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Bendel, Anambra, Imo, Borno, Plateau and Kano]. Shagari came third only in Lagos, after Awo and Zik. Like Shagari, like Tinubu; you are victorious if your party is either first or second in almost every state. Allegations that APC rigged the election also falls flat because it lost the biggest states, namely Lagos, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina, even though all of them have APC state governors, all of whom are staunchly loyal to Tinubu. In terms of vote banks, what is Imo, Edo or Adamawa to these states? Why should anyone go rigging elections in some small states when he could rig up figures in the biggest ones and win by a large margin? If they could help it, why should ten APC governors, APC National Chairman and Director General of the APC campaign suffer the embarrassment of failing to deliver their states?
Why should Tinubu himself suffer the embarrassment of failing to win outright in Lagos, long alleged to be his political fiefdom? Allegations that APC rigged these polls do not hold the water of logic. But those making them still have the chance to prove them at the election tribunals. Onabanjo managed to prove rigging even in the olden days of analogue collation. It is easier to do so in this age of electronic collation, if indeed rigging took place.
The Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone (GBB), Professor Muhammad Abubakar has said that the Federal Government blocked over 200 cyberattacks during the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25, 2023.
Abubakar spoke today, March 7, in Abuja at the opening session of a two-day Ministerial Training for GBB’s Board members and Management staffers.
He said: “on the election day alone, we were able to block more than 200 attacks and the next day, the attacks geometrically increased to about 1.2 million and all were blocked from our own businesses.”
He said that the business continuity and cyberspace protection committee was formed to guard and regulate digital activities while optimising the GBB’s Technical Services.
Abubakar said that the training is aimed at reviewing the agency’s performance while initiating alternative means of revenue generation.
The training is tagged: “Positioning the GBB Team for Effective Management and Leadership in the 4th Industrial Revolution.”
This was even as the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami said that the training is aimed at evaluating and recalibrating the Galaxy Backbone Limited in regards to management and leadership for optimal outputs.
Pantami, who served as the training facilitator, applauded GBB’s approach to digital Infrastructural development while saving the cost of governance.
“In this training, I will be very much sincere with you to point out some areas where we need significant improvement.
“Training is key when it comes to improving our performance and at the same time training is key when it comes to our self-evaluation, self-judgement, self-assessment.
“We need to think out of the box to discover new areas for government revenue generation.
“We need to be proactive in our thinking, let us not maintain the same process every day when it comes to revenue generation.”
The ministry had on February 23, inaugurated a committee for cyberspace and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure protection ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Veteran actor, Pete Edochie, has said that he is not happy as he clocks 76-year-old today, because of the fact that he could not go to the bank to withdraw his money.
In a video shared on his Instagram page, Edochie said: “I’m 76 today and thank God who has brought me thus far. I should be happy today but I’m not because I can’t go to the bank to withdraw money which belongs to me and was told it’s for my own good.
“I can’t go to the filling station and buy fuel for my car, again must be for my own good. Electricity has been epileptic and has even now become worse.
“Elections manifest themselves as selection and tried to find out why but no one offered any explanation, so I said to myself, ‘Pete, it must be for your own good’.”
Pete Edochie expressed a grievance in the video caption: “I have observed the events in our Nation for the past few weeks as it unfolds and I have chosen a special day like my 76th year on earth to address that in few words.”
A Coalition of All Progressives Congress (APC) Support Groups under the aegis of APC National Patriots is prodding the leadership of the party and the Senators-elect to unanimously elect the most ranking Senator from the South East, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu as the next President of the red chamber of the National Assembly.
Uzor Kalu has also been the Senate Chief Whip and representing Abia North Senatorial Zone.
The Coordinator of the group, Musa Uba, in a statement today, March 7, said that with the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President-elect and Senator Kashim Shettima from the South-West and North-East respectively, the leadership of the party should zone the position of the Senate Presidency to the South East Zone.
The group, which consists of notable members of the APC who worked for the victory of the party in the Presidential polls, said that the nation would need a dynamic, visionary, stable and purposeful National Assembly that will complement Asiwaju Tinubu’s plans to deliver on the Renewed Hope Mandate.
Uba said that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is the ideal Senate President that Nigeria needs now, adding that he has nationalist vision with legislative capacity and competence and an unalloyed commitment to the APC.
He said that the group had x-rayed candidates who have eyes on the Senate President’s seat and noted that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is the best among his peers in the areas of legislative experience and expertise, having sponsored over 25 bills that addresses the needs of the nation, moved motions for the security and peace of Nigeria.
“He has shown loyalty, consistency, capacity, character and competence, we therefore strongly appeal to the leadership of our great party, APC and the Senators-elect to consider the need for a stable Leadership of the National Assembly which will not be in variance with the vision of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu led government in delivering the democratic dividends to Nigerians who believe in the promise of hope and voted overwhelmingly for the APC”.
The APC support group maintained that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu’s consistency in his support to the party and his acceptability across the six geo- political zones points to character and dependability which are critical to the person who will occupy the office of the President of Senate.
The group futher appealed to the leadership of the ruling party to zone the position to South east on the basis of equity, fairness, unity, justice and stability of the peace of the nation.
File photo of President Buhari participates at the 54th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS in Abuja on 22nd Dec 2018
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is set to honor President Muhammadu Buhari with an award of Hero of Democracy, in respect of his efforts at promoting democracy as a system of government in the sub-region.
The ECOWAS Chairman, Guinea Bissau’s Umaro Sissoco Embalo who made this known at a bilateral meeting with Buhari today, March 7, on the sidelines of the ongoing 5th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries in Doha, Qatar, said that President Buhari has done more than any other to support democratic governments in West Africa.
He acknowledged further that Nigerian leader has done exceptionally well, waging battles against the emergence of non-democratic regimes.
The ECOWAS Chairman said that for these reasons, President Buhari will have his name on the Roll of Honour in the community’s new headquarters building in Abuja, when it is completed, so that future generations of West African citizens will know about the greatness he achieved and to copy his laudable examples.
President Buhari accepted the proposition, saying that he always believed that democracy is the best pathway to bringing together, diverse people and a dependable vehicle for the achievement of national development.
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Rigging Claims Don’t Add Up, By Mahmud Jega
A member of the British House of Lords, when told that money is difficult to come by these days, said he is nearly 90 years old but cannot remember any time in the past when money was easy to get. I have been watching Nigerian elections since 1979 and I cannot remember a time when those who lost the election did not allege rigging and intimidation. For a time, there was hope that President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 concession phone call could become the norm in Nigeria. It now looks like it was a one-off event. Instead, it was Godsday Orubebe’s 2015 attempt to storm INEC’s National Collation Centre that has endured, with Dino Melaye attempting a poor carbon copy in 2023.
The young men and women who are saying on social media that the 2023 election was full of rigging and intimidation, have no personal knowledge of the golden age of rigging and intimidation in Nigerian elections. In this election I saw no reports in the media of thugs snatching ballot boxes and stuffing them. I saw no reports of security agents cordoning off whole polling stations while ballot boxes were being stuffed. There was no story of soldiers scattering voters in any place. Where is the mother of all rigging, when Supreme Court ruled in 1983 that UPN’s Bisi Onabanjo got 1.2million votes, NPN’s Akin Omoboriowo got 500,000 votes but the returning officer added 1 behind the figure and it became N1.5million?
This year, the President did not declare the election a do or die. I saw no story of armed hooded security agents descending on a state, as in Ekiti in 2014. There was no story of an opposition governor’s plane denied landing rights at any airport. In 2023, we didn’t have a Police Commissioner Mbu denying an opposition party governor entry into his own Government House. Pray, where in Nigeria in 2023 did we have Police Commissioner Tahir Jidda denying Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe entry into Maiduguri and firing tear gas at Zik, even though Borno State Governor Muhammadu Goni stood beside him? Even the party primaries of last year lacked drama, because we saw nothing like the Babalawo who tried to enter the UPN state congress in Ibadan in 1983 with a live tortoise strapped to his waist.
Another youngster wrote on social media that “this generation of Nigerian politicians do not know how to concede, unlike the older generation.” Sorry sir, they actually copied it from the older generation. In 1979, as soon as election results started trickling in, we saw GNPP leader Waziri Ibrahim dashing around to see UPN leader Chief Awolowo and NPP leader Dr. Azikiwe. The three of them, minus PRP leader Aminu Kano who refused to join, appeared together before pressmen, rejected the election results and alleged rigging, even though it was an election conducted by a military government, not like now when APC controls the Federal Government [at least, it used to]. The scene was re-enacted last week when PDP and LP running mates held a joint press conference and tried to present a common front, a case of locking the stables after the horses have bolted.
Anyone who trusts such emergency political alliances has another thing coming. In 1979 the opposition parties presented us with a common front up until the Supreme Court upheld the election result. To our utmost surprise, just before Inauguration on October 1, 1979, NPN and NPP announced an accord where they shared legislative and executive posts between them. NPP got Deputy Senate President, House Speaker and several Cabinet posts, including Zik’s running mate Prof Ishaya Audu who became Foreign Minister, Mrs. Janet Akinrinade of Oyo and Paul Unongo of Benue. Who knows now if someone is negotiating under the table?
Our local and social media activists who are trying very hard to impress foreign election observers and the Western press by citing scattered incidents of election day problems knowing that White people are sticklers for procedure. They insist on correct procedure even if it produces an undesirable outcome. We Africans, who are wiser, usually walk back from the answer to the question. Our politicians’ measure of the credibility of an election is if they win, not whether or not the procedure was followed. If they don’t win, then the election is not credible.
The general African attitude to elections is that the outcome justifies the process. The credible outcome, in African eyes, is usually when the incumbent ruler or party is defeated. Hence, to most Africans, the best elections ever held in Africa were when Morgan Tsvangirai’s party defeated Robert Mugabe’s; when Adama Barrow defeated Yahaya Jammeh in Gambia; when Mohammed Morsi triumphed in Egypt against Hosni Mubarak’s premier; when Jerry Rawlings’ party was defeated in Ghana; when Macky Sall defeated Abdoulaye Wade in Senegal; when Wade himself earlier defeated Abdou Diouf; when Alassane Ouattara defeated Laurent Gbagbo in Ivory Coast; and more recently, when William Ruto triumphed in Kenya despite outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s support for Raila Odinga.
African style, let us walk backwards from the result to the credibility question. First, the voter turnout. There were 87 million voters with PVCs in 2023 election but only 24 million voted, or 27%. Now, the starting point of rigging elections is to take advantage of the number of registered voters.
Why leave 63 million blank names on the register if you really desire to rig up results? There is no doubt that the technological innovations adopted over the years greatly helped to clean up our elections. Up until 2007, those absent voters will simply have their votes cast for them by a coalition of party agents, election officials and security officers.
The winner of this election, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, got only 37% of the vote, down from the 56% that Buhari got in 2019. Now, while 2019 was a two-horse race between the APC and PDP candidates, 2023 was at least a four-horse race between APC, PDP, LP and NNPP candidates. It was the first time since 2007 that we had more than two major candidates in a presidential election and the first time since 1983 that we had up to four major candidates in such a race.
The top four candidates in this election got 37%, 29%, 25% and 6% respectively. This compares closely with 1979 when Shagari got 34%, Awo got 29%, Zik got 16%, Aminu Kano got 10.28 and Waziri Ibrahim got 10%. The top three runners up in this race got a combined 60% of the vote. That is impressive, but then, they only have themselves to blame that they did not present a united front before the election. They only tried to present a united front to contest the results. It is a case of locking the stables after the horses have bolted. Would they have made 60% of the vote if they had united behind a single candidate? Nobody will ever know the answer for certain.
Tinubu’s party went into this election controlling the Federal and 21 state governments. In the event, he won only 12 states outright. PDP’s Atiku Abubakar also won 12 states, LP’s Peter Obi won 12 states outright [FCT included] while NNPP’s Kwankwaso won outright in one state. So how did Tinubu win the race? Simple. The number of states that a candidate wins outright is important. Equally important is the number of states in which he came second. Also very important is, if he came second with only a narrow margin in most of them.
Tinubu won 12 states outright [Zamfara, Jigawa, Borno, Niger, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Rivers]. He came second in 19 states [Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe, Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, Adamawa, Osun, Lagos, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Imo and Ebonyi]. In many cases the margins of loss were very small, only 3,000 votes in Sokoto, 12,000 in Katsina and equally narrow margins in Osun and Lagos. Very important, Tinubu came second to Kwankwaso in Kano, second to Atiku in most of the states the latter won and second to Obi in Lagos, Ebonyi, Imo and Edo.
This was exactly how Alhaji Shehu Shagari won the presidency in 1979. He won outright in nine states out of 19 [Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger, Bauchi, Gongola, Benue, Kwara, Rivers and Cross River.] He won in Kaduna and Gongola even though his party lost the governorship elections there two weeks earlier, what in those days was called “the bandwagon effect.” Of the remaining ten states in Nigeria at the time, Shagari came second in 9 [Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Bendel, Anambra, Imo, Borno, Plateau and Kano]. Shagari came third only in Lagos, after Awo and Zik. Like Shagari, like Tinubu; you are victorious if your party is either first or second in almost every state.
Allegations that APC rigged the election also falls flat because it lost the biggest states, namely Lagos, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina, even though all of them have APC state governors, all of whom are staunchly loyal to Tinubu. In terms of vote banks, what is Imo, Edo or Adamawa to these states? Why should anyone go rigging elections in some small states when he could rig up figures in the biggest ones and win by a large margin? If they could help it, why should ten APC governors, APC National Chairman and Director General of the APC campaign suffer the embarrassment of failing to deliver their states?
Why should Tinubu himself suffer the embarrassment of failing to win outright in Lagos, long alleged to be his political fiefdom?
Allegations that APC rigged these polls do not hold the water of logic. But those making them still have the chance to prove them at the election tribunals. Onabanjo managed to prove rigging even in the olden days of analogue collation. It is easier to do so in this age of electronic collation, if indeed rigging took place.