OPINION: Nigerians Responsible For Flawed Presidential Election

No one should be surprised that people are surprised at the outcome of the 2023 elections. That’s the way elections always turn out. No one side has 100% guarantee of winning in an election. Contests are not easily predictable. Not even the contest of Goliath and David. This is so because the element of surprise is always a regular feature of whatever is a contest. Even in an election like this one where the four leading parties creatively or foolishly rigged in one way or another (though every of the key actors is playing the holier than thou game) the element of surprise will still find a way to play out and those who don’t emerge winners will be surprised while their strategies came short of desired outcome.

No election produces 100% joy in a community or nation. If you know anyone, please share with me.
The only candidate who will ever win an election and be applauded as the winner by all voters is the sole candidate who has no other candidate to contest with in the election. Even that kind of candidate will still leave a sour taste in the mouth of some people. In a true democracy, that kind of solo candidacy that dispenses joy to all supporters don’t exist.
Since democracy is a contest between political parties and candidates, the victory of one side is always the pain and feeling of loss of another.

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Advanced as the USA’s democracy is, Trump tried hard to prove that Joe Biden won by rigging. Joe Biden’s team were forced by Trump’s allégations and narratives to struggle for months to try and prove they won fair and square. I see the same scenario repeating itself in the Tinubu versus Obi, Atiku and Kwankwaso saga for the next six months. Tinubu and his team will face hard scrutiny in the days ahead and those who felt cheated have a tough job to do to prove that this election that has thrown up more general upsets than any other elections in the history of Nigeria was rigged by only the winning party and that the rigging is the reason they lost.

Funny as Trump’s claim was, he has those who were on his side then and are still on his side today. Biden’s people also stood by their mandate and stayed resolute to the end. Same scenario begins in Nigeria now. As it does, aggrieved Nigerians must learn to do this without any recourse to violence and break down of law and order.

In the USA, the system prevailed for America because the allegiance of the people who are the operators of the American system is first and foremost in the best interest of the Union. From the Electoral bodies in the various states, to the Military and to the Judiciary, the system prevailed for the rule of law in America. The division in the USA media couldn’t allow justice to fail because the handlers of the Military, electoral and judicial system held strong in the interest of the Constitution of the USA.

In Nigeria, the problem is with the system. This imperfect system sadly is the best we have all managed to build. We are all the architects of this unjust, corrupt and polluted system. This is the house we all built. We must look to this system for justice with unflinching hope even as we strive to reform it and make it better.

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As more and more people have become interested in taking our country back and are eager to dismantle this system to build a more perfect union, we must thread with caution to prevent our words and actions from tearing down the union and consuming all of us with it. Wrong or unwise decisions and actions will put an unpalatable ending to our possibility of building the just system we so desperately desire. If we allow this to happen, we will all lose. Nigeria is ours. Nigeria’s interest must be uppermost in our hearts always.

Olanrewaju Osho is a passionate advocate of transformative leadership and good governance. He is a pastor and the Senatorial Candidate of the SDP for FCT.

Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.

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