Former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on Tuesday criticised Nigeria’s electoral system, saying the country continues to struggle with credible elections despite having far fewer voters and polling units than India.
In a statement titled “Tale of Two Nations Continues,” Obi contrasted Nigeria’s electoral process with that of India, which he described as “a model” among democracies.
He noted that India has “nearly 1 billion registered voters (over 960 million) and more than 60% actively participating in elections,” operates “over 1 million polling stations and thousands of political parties,” and conducts elections using technology that enables “electronic transmission of results within days.”
By contrast, he said Nigeria, with about one-seventh of India’s population, has “about 93 million registered voters, which is less than 10% of India’s voter base,” and fewer than 20 per cent of the polling stations and about one per cent of the political parties compared to India.
“It is deeply troubling that we still struggle to conduct elections, even when we record voter turnout below 20%,” Obi said.
He added that Nigeria “still remains unable to consistently deliver free, fair, and credible elections or transmit results promptly, especially when compared to countries with far larger numbers than ours.”
He said, “The difference is leadership,” arguing that in India, political leaders, legislators and the judiciary “work tirelessly for the welfare of their people and the future of their children.”
“In Nigeria, many political figures instead implement policies that impoverish the people and threaten the future of our children,” he said, urging Nigerians to “demand leaders who put the people first, govern with integrity, and plan for a better tomorrow.”
Obi’s remarks come amid renewed debate over the Electoral Act amendment currently before the National Assembly.
The Senate and the House of Representatives have set up conference committees to reconcile differences in their respective versions of the bill.
While the House approved real-time electronic transmission of election results in its amended version, the Senate endorsed electronic transmission to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal but retained manual collation as a backup where technology fails.
Meanwhile, plenary in the House of Representatives turned chaotic on Tuesday as lawmakers disagreed over a move to repeal the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2022 and enact a new Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2026.
The conference committees are expected to harmonise the differences before the bill proceeds to the next legislative stage.
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