As the 2027 general election gather steam, the Lagos State former governor, Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed that the election cannot be 100 percent perfect, saying no election globally has been completely free from errors.
Fashola stated that though everyone particularly politicians, wished that the previous and forthcoming elections should be completely free of errors but forget that the process were designed by human and not God.
The ex-minister of works and housing, who described election as key ingredient of democracy, stressed that as the democratic system gives trust to the people, the stakeholders must understand that man-made system are fallible.
Fashola disclosed this while addressing All Progressives Congress (APC) members during a stakeholders’ forum orgamised by the Lagos chapter of the party in Victoria Island.
He noted that millions of Nigerians expected that the electoral officials and ad-hoc staff act in same manner without considering that they were from different backgrounds.
Fashola said: “Democracy is not divine. It is man-made. And therefore election as a key pillar of the system of government gives trust to the people, and it must be sanctified by us. We created the election as human and not God.
“And therefore, we must certify the election by certain actions that we must take. And the first thing I must say is that participants must recognize that elections are man-made; there will be errors in any electoral process, no matter how great the country may be.
“(But) what we want to see is that those errors are reduced to the minimum. So, it is not every error that will justify the nolification of the electoral process. I think that this must be considered because you cannot expect those who have different challenges to act perfectly in over 150,000 polling units on the same day and time.
“We must also understand that some electoral outcomes can defy expectations of logical and rational people. But the question to ask is if the people are also rational in their thinking.
“It is important that we understand all these. We must understand that the election is an opportunity to share with people a message that resonates with them. The party that gets the message right gets the result, and those things are things that are top of the mind for the electorate.
“While there is room to improve and blame the electoral commission and the opposition parties, not every electoral outcome is very far from what the people have decided to do”.
Meanwhile, the former governor urged the APC to strengthen its internal reward system as a means of motivating party members and sustaining their commitment to the party’s success.
He emphasized the need to keep members engaged and rewarded for their loyalty and contributions.
The former minister also expressed concern over the growing voter apathy despite increasing voter registration figures.
“We are witnessing an increase in voter registration but a decrease in voter turnout. At one time, Lagos had over 1.5 million voters compared to our closest rival’s 300,000. We must ask ourselves what has changed and how to restore that enthusiasm.”
The former governor of Lagos State observed that in the 2023 general elections, less than 30 percent of the 93 million registered voters across Nigeria participated, describing the trend as “not good enough” for a developing democracy.
