A survey undertaken recently by Tentacle across geopolitical zones, indicates that the 2027 presidential election may record lower than 20 percent voters turnout except there would be an electoral reform that can deprive the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) powers to manipulate its result in favour of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
By Our Correspondent
A few months to the 2023 presidential election, the now sitting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a contestant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had warn Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, his closest rivals that political power, especially as it concerned that year’s presidential election, would not be served any contestants a la carte. Atiku was the flag bearer of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) while Obi flew that of the Labour Party (LP).
Tinubu was spotted on a video footage that went viral in December 2022, when he had not become the President, charging his top campaign managers to fight, grab and run away with the presidential power by any means that could guarantee his victory by hook or crook.
Tinubu had urged in the video, “Political power is not going to be served in a restaurant. They don’t serve it a la carte. At all cost, fight for it, grab it and run with it”.
At the time, many had taken Tinubu’s facetious utterance as a mere jibe that needed no serious attention, since many opinion polls had favoured Obi to win the election.
However, the Jagaban of Lagos politics who was almost messing around with incoherence in his campaign utterances, was really never a joker as many had dismissed him to be. He was headed in a direction his opponents had no inkling and couldn’t also decipher.
Not quite long, rumours began to flow from various internet sources alleging the hobnob between Tinubu and then Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola and Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmud Yakubu in oversea countries.
It was on the day of the election when all manners of manipulation and shenanigans were allegedly orchestrated by the INEC and thugs across the country in favour of the “blablue iconic master that many began to realize what may have been the import of Tinubu’s advice to his campaign operatives. For, halfway into the presidential election, INEC server had developed glitches, it could no longer accommodate direct transmission of presidential election results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) from polling units, even though the results of the Senate and House of Representatives election which held simultaneously, were easily transmitted.
The election transmission technology which INEC acquired for credible election with N350 billion was jettisoned just in the presidential election, Nigerian Voters who had skeptically appeared in the polling units once again had their fears confirmed that Nigerian political leaders were not interested in credible elections in the country. The electorate went back home in utter disappointment when INEC came out in the dead of the night to announce what many tagged “shambolic result”. “Go to court”, Yakubu told a bewildered nation, if they won’t accept the result he announced declaring Tinubu the winner.
Four months after Tinubu was sworn in as the President, precisely in October 2023, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, would not swallow the bitter pill INEC forced down the throat of Nigerians as the presidential election results of the 2023. Embittered and frustrated, he came out with a statement claiming that Obi and not Tinubu, won the majority of votes cast during the contentious election. Lawal also claimed that available data from independent sources indicated that Atiku came second, while Tinubu who was declared winner by INEC came a distant third position.
Lawal: “I have resisted the temptation to engage in the contemporary political discourse since May February 2023 election faux pas.
“I did this for two reasons. The first being that as an active player, I needed time to analyze and digest the data that led to the outcome(s) so I could arrive at an informed decision. The second being that rainy season has just set in I needed to focus my attention on my farms which are the mainstream of my livelihood.
“The current topical issues for political discourse and inquiry are whether Bola Tinubu won the presidential election.
“My answer to the first question is that regardless of whatever INEC or Appeal Court said or did, Bola did not win the election.
“Right from the start of the campaigns, Bola knew he was not going to win in a free and fair contest, so he decided to go by all means.
“Available factual data as aggregated from several independent sources indicate that Obi got the majority of votes while Atiku came second. Bola came a distant third in the number of votes scored”.
As the 2027 presidential election campaigns have started building up among the political class, there appears to be another desperation on the side of Tinubu camp to fight, grab and run away, once again, with the result of the coming election. The indications to the foregoing occurred in vocal boastings by his aides and cabinet members to the effect that the incumbent President must win the election no matter how hard the opposition parties try to stop him. Amid these boasts, what amazes political analysts is the audacity of the boasters who do not factor in the electorate most of who have sworn they would either not vote or never to vote Tinubu for a second term.
The latest boasting being the one delivered by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to the effect that the opposition parties must not underestimate Tinubu’s winning capacity come 2027. Ribadu was speaking during the National Cyber security Conference 2025 which held in Abuja on Wednesday, July 9, 2023 where he described President Tinubu as a digital ruler whom the opposition must underestimate in 2027 at their own peril.
Citizens who have their voters’ card who were interviewed by this medium in different towns across the country regarding their readiness to vote in 2027, responded differently. While some dismissed voting in Nigeria as a waste of time which they would not engage in another time, a good number of other respondents said they would vote their choice when the time comes based on the performance of the APC government under Tinubu.
However, another group of respondents advised especially the Coalition group to find a way to reform the electoral process through seeking for the alterations in the Electoral Act to accommodate compulsory real time transmission of election results to the IReV. These argued that the only way votes can count is when INEC has been stripped of every power to manipulate election results.
