Mohammed made this known when he paid a visit to some policy institutes in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday as part of his official engagement with the International Policy Institute after the general elections.
Nigeria’s information and culture minister, Lai Mohammed on Wednesday said candidates who lost the 2023 presidential election called it a sham without providing any evidence.
Mohammed made this known when he paid a visit to some policy institutes in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday as part of his official engagement with the International Policy Institute after the general elections.
He called on Western countries to support the strengthening of democracy in the country which it believes will in turn deepen the system in the West African region, the Voice of Nigeria reports.
Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress was declared the winner of the election after polling 8,794,726 votes.
Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party came second after amassing 6,984,520 votes, Peter Obi of the Labour Party polled 6,101,533 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party garnered 1,496,687 votes.
Meanwhile, Atiku and Obi have challenged Tinubu’s victory in court.
According to the minister, Nigeria’s democracy if properly supported will augur well for the continent at large. Considering its experience, size, capacity and resources, Nigeria can positively influence the democratic process and development in Africa.
He explained that West Africa in particular is plagued by democratic backsliding from the military coup to presidents clinging on to power at all costs, he said which must be changed as quickly as possible
He said the new technology called the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System or BVAS underpinned the credibility of the vote. Voters were required to scan their face or their thumbprint – the same as contained in their Permanent Voters Cards – to cast their ballot.
He said, “It cut out fraudulent votes. It cut out ghost votes and it cut out multiple votes and its landmark technology (which worked 97% of the time) has been overlooked for other flaws, but represents a revolution in the way elections are conducted in my country. The President created a genuine level playing field and did not bestow any advantage on the incumbent party.”
He added, “In the Presidential vote, the outgoing president lost his state of Katsina – the first time this has ever happened. The now President-Elect lost in his base of Lagos. Governors, whose dominant position in states used to invariably deliver the vote for their presidential candidate, could not stop their states from swinging. The opposition PDP also lost former strongholds in the South East.
“This speaks not only to the credibility vote but the health of our democracy. Strongholds can no longer be taken for granted. Each vote must be earned. That is democracy at its core.
“Predictably, the losing candidates have called the election a sham. But they have done so without any evidence.”
The minister, however, said the government was not asking the media to not criticise the government. “That is part of their job. We ask only that they bring similar scrutiny to the opposition’s evidence-free claims of rigging,” he said.