Nigeria’s Faith and Power – A Journey Through Religion, Politics, and Society
On 25 February 2023, Nigerians went to the polls in what was widely described as the most competitive presidential election in the country’s history. When the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu the winner on 1 March 2023, with 8.79 million votes (36.6% of the total), celebrations erupted among APC supporters, while opposition strongholds erupted in protest.
Tinubu’s path to victory relied on several key factors:
- A fragmented opposition: Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured 6.98 million votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) – riding a wave of youth support – garnered 6.1 million. The split anti-APC vote prevented either challenger from overtaking Tinubu.
- Regional strongholds: He dominated the South West (except Lagos, which Obi won) and performed strongly in parts of the North and North Central, meeting the constitutional requirement of at least 25% in two-thirds of the states.
- Incumbency advantages: As the candidate of the ruling APC, Tinubu benefited from party machinery, state governors’ support, and the political networks he had built over decades.
Yet the election quickly became one of the most disputed in Nigeria’s democratic history. Opposition parties and civil society groups levelled serious allegations:
- Technical failures: INEC’s much-vaunted Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and real-time electronic upload of results to the IReV portal malfunctioned in many areas, forcing manual collation and raising suspicions of manipulation.
- Violence and intimidation: Reports of voter suppression, ballot-box snatching, and ethnic targeting – particularly in Lagos – marred polling in several states.
- Lack of transparency: European Union observers noted “operational failures” and a “lack of transparency” that undermined public trust.
Atiku and Obi filed petitions at the Presidential Election Petition Court, arguing that the election did not substantially comply with the Electoral Act. After months of hearings, the Court of Appeal and finally the Supreme Court (on 26 October 2023) upheld Tinubu’s victory, ruling that the petitioners had failed to prove irregularities sufficient to nullify the result.
Supporters hailed the outcome as a reflection of democratic choice and regional alliances. Critics, including many young Nigerians who had rallied behind Obi, continue to insist the process fell far short of free and fair standards, with some describing it as the least credible election since the return to democracy in 1999.
As of December 2025, calls for comprehensive electoral reform remain loud, with the 2027 contest already looming. The 2023 election not only brought Tinubu to power but also exposed deep divisions over trust in Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
References: INEC official results (2023); Supreme Court judgment (October 2023); European Union Election Observation Mission Final Report (2023); African Union and ECOWAS observer statements; analyses from Brookings Institution and Freedom House.
Next Episode: From Jonathan to Tinubu: The Fall of a Christian President and the PDP Era
(Exploring the end of 16 years of PDP rule in 2015, Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat, and the factors that ushered in APC dominance)