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STATE OF THE NATION: NIGERIA'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OUTCOME

Congratulations to Mr. Tinubu for being declared the winner of Saturday's election. I personally wish him well - I hope he succeeds because his success will alleviate the sufferings of ordinary Nigerian. This is not pandering to anyone but being factual about what Nigeria and Nigerians need now, GOOD governance - a government that solve problems. Tinubu was never my preferred candidate for many reasons I have alluded to here and on other platforms. The election was full of malpractices perpetuated by the major parties and it is a shame to be candid. I do not think this is the voice of Nigerians in its entirety, here are my points:

1. Only 4.1% of Nigerians were claimed to have voted for Tinubu to emerge as the winner. That is 9% of registered voters and 25% of those that actually voted.. INEC reported that over 93.4 million voters were registered only 8.8 million were claimed to elected Tinubu. Such a low turnout is prone to manipulation.

2. The election was marred with fraud across the length and breadth of the nation. From children voting in the North, to a candidate having a landslide in the East. To only 1.23 million vote count in Lagos - it is impossible that Lagos had just 10% turnout rate (that is 15% less than the national average); to voters being threatened in daylight; stabbed; to police coordinating ballot stuffing; and ballots being burnt. To electoral officers refusing to follow the instructions to transmit election results via BVAS; to electoral officials not showing up at all or showing up at 6 PM. To strange numbers being called by INEC for some states, and a major party recording next to ZERO votes in Northern Nigeria ... these are too convenient results to believe and question the credibility of the numbers we see.

3. The fact that INEC reneged on its promise of transmitting results electronically questions the credibility of the results being announced. They set the electoral laws, and spent over N300 billion to invest in BVAS and the process, only to truncate it by not using the BVAS as effectively as it should. The way BVAS was designed to prevent rigging was for both accreditation and result transmission being done on it.

What makes DEMOCRACY unique from any other system of government is that it gives power to the people. The power to decide their laws and choose who governs them. When this is truncated, it is no longer a democracy. This is why successive leaders in Nigeria get into office and start to steal with IMPUNITY because they know the vote of the people did not get them there and it cannot remove them.. Maybe Tinubu would have won if election malpractices were minimized and not systemic. We would conclude Nigerians deserve the leader they have chosen, and they can remove him after four years if he performed below expectations. This is not what we have in Nigeria - a handful have been handpicking leaders and they force them on the people through a deeply flawed electoral process since independence.

Because of the corruption within the judiciary system in Nigeria, it is next to impossible for the opposition to win in any court. That is if their own hands are clean. They participated in the process of stealing the people's votes in their strongholds.

After all said and done, Nigerians should bond behind Mr. Tinubu, root for him to succeed but hold him accountable all the way. The problems of Nigeria are so deep and complex that we must all join hands to help.. We should be good citizens. Leaders cannot make changes on their own, they need us all to do good, be honest, make sacrifices at the micro-level, and do our part. Let us daily be the change we want in Nigeria.

Naija o ni baje oh. Igba otun a de oh.

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