Senate President Godswill Akpabio has praised Nigeria’s electoral process, saying it has significantly improved since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) left power.
Speaking during Wednesday’s plenary, October 22, Akpabio made the comments while leading the debate on the second reading of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which aired on NASSTV.
He noted that even long-serving politicians could attest to the system’s transformation over the years.
“I’m sure that even myself and Senator Abaribe, who have been around for almost two and a half decades in these electoral matters, I know you don’t care about political party, you win elections in any party,” Akpabio said.
“You have a lot of experience, but you will agree with me that since PDP left, the elections have improved tremendously in this country,” Akpabio said.
Reflecting on the 2007 elections, Akpabio recalled that former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had publicly admitted that the poll which brought him to power was deeply flawed.
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“I recall, I’ve been close to most of the presidents since 1999, and I recall in 2007, when I won as a governor, our then president, may his soul rest in peace, President Yar’Adua, had to come out publicly to say that the election that brought him as president was totally flawed,” he said. “He said it was full of inconsistencies and rigging. Since then, we have plugged the holes.”
Akpabio acknowledged that the 2023 elections were not perfect but argued that they reflected growing maturity in Nigeria’s democracy.
He cited legal debates over the Federal Capital Territory as evidence of increased electoral awareness.
He also condemned post-election manipulations, where defeated candidates allegedly used the courts to gain power, urging lawmakers to amend the Electoral Act to block such practices.
“We must find a way to plug the loopholes of such occurrences so that we can have a better electoral system,” he said.