Elections in Nigeria not completely decided by voters  —  Tambuwal

By Bayo Wahab

Former Sokoto State Governor and ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has said elections in Nigeria are not entirely determined by the will of the electorate, citing systemic flaws and compromises within the electoral process.

Tambuwal made the remarks on Monday during an interview on Prime Time, a political programme aired on Arise Television. 

He argued that while Nigerians turn out to vote, the final outcome of elections is often distorted during collation.

“Elections are not completely decided by electorates. I can say that without mincing words,” Tambuwal said. 

“We know, quite often times, at collation level, be it at the polling units, at ward level, at the local government level or the state level or even at the national level, things happen that misrepresent what voters actually voted for.”

According to the former governor, politicians routinely exploit loopholes in the electoral system to manipulate results, particularly during the collation and transmission of votes.

He also blamed part of the problem on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), alleging that some officials of the electoral body compromise the integrity of elections.

The former governor, however, expressed strong support for reforms aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s electoral framework, including the adoption of electronic transmission of results.

“I wholeheartedly support any reform that will improve the electoral process in Nigeria, including electronic transmission,” he said.

On the ideology of political parties in Nigeria, Tambuwal said most of the parties in the country are not ideological driven. According to him, the parties are mere vehicles to particular destinations.

“If it’s about ideology, what was President Muhammadu Buhari doing in the APC with some characters that we have in APC? I don’t want to mention names, but if you look at President Muhammadu Buhari then, the way he was perceived, what was he doing with some characters in politics?”, Tambuwal asked.

He admitted that even in the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC), politicians who, ideologically should not be bedfellows are members of the party.

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