Former Lagos State Governor and ex-Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Babatunde Fashola has urged political actors, particularly opposition parties, to accept electoral outcomes, arguing that elections are inherently imperfect processes that should not be used to weaken democratic stability.
Fashola made the remarks on Friday, June 12, while speaking at The Platform, a public policy forum in Lagos organised to mark Democracy Day.
He said the complexity of organising nationwide elections in a large federation like Nigeria makes perfection impossible, stressing that logistical challenges are a normal part of democratic practice.
“Elections are an imperfect event because they require a large logistical operation across a federation,” Fashola said.
According to him, elections require simultaneous operations across thousands of polling units, often under different conditions, making total uniformity difficult to achieve.
“The reality of a presidential election is that all polling units across the nation have to be doing the same thing at the same time.
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“The question then is how we assign blame when things go wrong, especially when the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission cannot be everywhere at the same time,” he stated.
Fashola maintained that such challenges are not unique to Nigeria, noting that established democracies also contend with similar issues but focus on improving their systems rather than rejecting outcomes.
“In other jurisdictions, they accept these imperfections and aspire to improve, but they also accept the results,” he said.
He expressed concern over what he described as a growing unwillingness among some political actors to accept election results, warning that it could undermine democratic development.
“It seems to me that an unwillingness to accept the outcome of an election perhaps blinds the unsuccessful participants from seeking and taking up the role of opposition for the development of society,” he said.
Fashola stressed that opposition plays a critical role in governance and should contribute constructively to national development rather than rejecting electoral verdicts.
He also called for a broader understanding of democracy beyond elections, urging citizens and leaders to focus on strengthening institutions.
“If we are to discuss democracy beyond elections, the question I ask is: What kind of democracy do we want?” he asked.
The former minister’s comments formed part of wider discussions at The Platform on Nigeria’s democracy, governance, and institutional accountability.
He concluded that while elections remain central to democracy, the true test lies in how institutions and political actors respond after results are declared.