Former Sokoto State Governor and Senator representing Sokoto South, Aminu Tambuwal, has said that elections in Nigeria are not entirely decided by the electorate, citing systemic flaws in the electoral process.
Tambuwal made the assertion on Monday while speaking during an interview on Prime Time, a programme aired on Arise Television.
According to him, discrepancies often arise at various stages of vote collation, leading to outcomes that do not accurately reflect the choices made by voters at polling units.
“It is not completely decided by the electorate, and I say that without mincing words,” Tambuwal stated.
He explained that irregularities can occur at multiple levels of the electoral process — from polling units to ward, local government, state, and even national collation centres.
Tambuwal further alleged that politicians exploit weaknesses in the system, while some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) become compromised in the process.
“We know that at different collation levels, things happen that misrepresent what voters actually voted. Politicians look for loopholes, and wherever those loopholes exist, they take advantage of them,” he said.
He added that the erosion of electoral integrity is not limited to one institution, pointing to challenges involving the electoral body, the judiciary, and political actors collectively.
The senator’s comments add to ongoing national debates about electoral reforms and the credibility of Nigeria’s democratic processes ahead of future elections, according to PUO Reports.
