The real losers of the 2023 Nigerian general elections are not the electorate deprived of their right to choose freely, nor the first‑time youth disillusioned by the state, nor the candidates who lost or won as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The biggest losers are President Muhammadu Buhari, INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, President‑elect Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Nigeria as a political entity. Except for Tinubu, who now bears the burden of legitimacy stemming from a perceived flawed process and a meager vote total, the others must live with the scar and collective guilt imposed on the country by the ethical deficit in the election’s delivery.
General disenchantment with the conduct of the 2023 elections was evident among the more than 145,000 national and foreign observers deployed across the country. INEC failed to leave a split opinion on its capacity to conduct free, fair, and credible elections, a failure that will haunt Yakubu, Buhari, and Nigeria for a long time. The exercise was not only a horrendous phenomenon for the Nigerian psyche but also a fleeting nightmare. A consensus of negative opinions from the European Union, African Union, ECOWAS, the Commonwealth, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the Joint Election Observation Mission, four former African presidents, and the Transition Monitoring Group affirms global skepticism about Nigeria’s reputation. All concluded that the electoral process lacked transparency, encouraging manipulation and undermining voters’ confidence.
This trust deficit was also highlighted by Chatham House, which declared that INEC had learned nothing from its past failures. It noted, “The INEC’s performance and controversies over these results mean that the electoral reforms and lessons declared to have been learned were not fully applied and, as an electoral body, it was significantly less prepared than it claimed.” Consequently, President Buhari missed the opportunity to cement his legacy by failing to provide a secure and enabling environment for free, fair, and credible elections. As Commander‑in‑Chief, he did not optimally use his offices, including the police, army, DSS, and other security agencies, to protect voters. Nigerians were horrified by images of election violations that no rationalisation could justify. About 27 people were killed nationwide due to violence, ballot snatching, thuggery, voter suppression, ethnic bigotry, and the use of tribal deities, even in the presence of security operatives—an undeniable national shame. Moreover, Buhari’s legacy may have been further weakened by the naira redesign and currency‑swap policy, which brought untold hardship to citizens during the elections. Although intended to eliminate monetary inducement and vote‑buying, the policy was outwitted by politicians who used extra‑constitutional means to achieve sinister objectives.
For INEC Chairman Prof. Yakubu, there may be no second chance to redeem his character. With a budget exceeding N305 billion and other support, he had no excuse for failure. Yakubu assured both local and international audiences, including Chatham House, that the Commission was prepared and that technology—such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS)—would enable real‑time transmission of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV). These assurances became irrelevant when INEC failed to comply with the Electoral Act and its own guidelines. The 2022 Electoral Act requires INEC to upload polling‑unit results to its portal, as stipulated in Section 60(5) and Clause 38 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines. Specifically, Clause 38 mandates that, after voting concludes, the Presiding Officer must electronically transmit results to the collation system, upload a scan of ES8A to IReV using BVAS, and deliver the BVAS and original forms in tamper‑evident envelopes to the Ward Collation Officer, accompanied by security agents.
Non‑compliance with these provisions opened the electoral process to manipulation, resulting in a lack of justice and fulfillment for voters. These violations exposed existential gaps in INEC’s capacity under Prof. Yakubu to deliver on a significant national assignment, casting aspersions on his reputation and capabilities. This election is a blemish on his profile; no government or serious organization is likely to entrust him with similar responsibilities in the future.
President‑elect Bola Tinubu is a product of INEC’s flawed process, triggering a legitimacy challenge amplified by the low number of votes he secured relative to total votes cast. Tinubu polled 8.87 million votes—the fewest for any presidential candidate since 1999—representing 36.61 % of total votes and only 10.08 % of all eligible voters. Of approximately 93 million registered voters, about 25 million (28.63 %) actually turned out to vote.
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