The Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has warned that Nigerians may boycott the 2027 general elections if they become convinced that the outcome has already been decided in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking on Monday, August 3, during a programme on Eagle 102.5 FM in Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, the Cardinal said public confidence in the electoral process is just as important as the voting exercise itself.
According to him, democracy cannot flourish where citizens believe their votes will not count.
“My fear is that if it becomes very clear to Nigerians that no matter what happens, the APC will win, then most people won’t even bother to go to the election,” Onaiyekan said.
“And even if the government, the real power wins, it will not bring a real victory actually. And it is not going to be possible to deliver good government,” he added.
The cleric stressed that Nigeria must prioritise credible elections if it hopes to achieve better governance, arguing that flawed electoral processes inevitably produce poor leadership.
“Genuine democracy is built on free and fair elections,” he said. “Any democracy that cannot do free, fair, and credible election cannot come up with good governance.
“Elections have consequences… Bad elections lead to bad governance and bad governance leads to misery among the people.”
Onaiyekan lamented that Nigeria has yet to conduct an election that enjoys widespread public confidence, blaming growing voter apathy on distrust in the electoral system.
“It is in our interest and the government who has all the powers, to please make sure that the trust of the people in the electoral process is restored, so that we can get at least 50% of Nigerians voting,” he said.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s democratic journey, the Cardinal said elected leaders cannot escape public scrutiny because they claim to govern with the people’s mandate.
“When we were under military regime, we didn’t talk about elections… Now we are with democracy, and the rulers say that they are ruling in our name. We can’t keep quiet when people claiming to be working in our name are not.”
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He also argued that the credibility of elections depends not only on the conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but also on the behaviour of security agencies deployed during polls.
“Even if INEC is neutral, as you know, the election outcome is also affected by the activities and the performance of the security agents who claim to be securing the election, but who often end up intimidating people with sirens all over the place, which doesn’t happen in decent democracies.
“We are also talking about why it’s always difficult for INEC to even perform well, with all good intentions. The rules that guide these activities, there is a lot of room for improvement. We have been talking about reforming the electoral rules.”
Onaiyekan called for reforms to strengthen the independence of the electoral body, particularly the process through which its leadership is appointed.
“We know that the government in power appoints the INEC. We have to figure a way out of that because if the government in power appoints the INEC, then It’s difficult to have a fair game. Unless you have a very strong chairman of INEC who decides to stand up against all pressures,” he added.