‘Stop Faulting Outcome, Elections Are Imperfect’ — Fashola Tells Opposition

Former Lagos State Governor and ex-Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Babatunde Fashola, has described elections as inherently imperfect exercises, urging Nigerians to recognise the challenges involved in conducting nationwide polls and to focus on strengthening democratic institutions beyond the electoral process.

Fashola made the remarks on Friday while speaking at The Platform, a public policy forum held in Lagos as part of activities marking the 2026 Democracy Day celebration.

According to the former governor, elections, particularly presidential contests, involve extensive logistical operations across the federation, making absolute perfection difficult to achieve.

“Elections are an imperfect event because they require a large logistical operation across a federation,” Fashola said.

He explained that the conduct of presidential elections requires thousands of polling units across the country to carry out identical procedures simultaneously despite varying local conditions and circumstances.

“The reality of a presidential election is that all polling units across the nation have to be doing the same thing at the same time. The question then is how we assign blame when things go wrong, especially when the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission cannot be everywhere at the same time,” he stated.

Fashola argued that electoral imperfections are not unique to Nigeria, noting that established democracies also acknowledge such challenges while continuously working to improve their electoral systems.

He said many countries accept that elections may not always be flawless but focus on strengthening institutions and processes rather than undermining confidence in democratic outcomes.

“In other jurisdictions, they accept these imperfections and aspire to improve, but they also accept the results,” he said.

The former minister also expressed concern over what he described as the growing reluctance among some political actors to accept election outcomes, warning that such attitudes could hinder democratic development.

According to him, failure to accept electoral defeat may prevent unsuccessful candidates and parties from embracing the constructive role of opposition in advancing democratic governance.

“It seems to me that an unwillingness to accept the outcome of an election perhaps blinds the unsuccessful participants from seeking and taking up the role of opposition for the development of society,” Fashola said.

He stressed that opposition politics remains an essential component of democracy and should not be viewed solely through the prism of electoral victory or defeat.

Fashola further urged Nigerians to broaden discussions about democracy beyond elections and reflect on the type of democratic culture the country seeks to build.

“If we are to discuss democracy beyond elections, the question I ask is: What kind of democracy do we want?” he asked.

He maintained that while elections are a critical pillar of democracy, the true measure of democratic maturity lies in the willingness of institutions, political actors and citizens to uphold democratic values even after the electoral process has concluded.