Akpabio: Nigeria’s elections have improved tremendously since PDP left power

Senate President Godswill Akpabio says elections in Nigeria have “improved tremendously” since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) left power.

The senate president served as governor of Akwa Ibom from 2007 to 2015 and was also elected senator representing Akwa Ibom north-west in 2015 on the platform of the PDP.

Akpabio spoke during the plenary on Wednesday as a bill seeking to repeal the Electoral Act 2022 and enact a new Electoral Bill 2025 passed second reading in the senate.

He recalled that irregularities and manipulation characterised elections under the PDP-led administration.

“You will agree with me that since PDP left, the elections have improved tremendously in this country,” Akpabio said.

“I’ve been close to most of the presidents since 1999. And I recall in 2007, when I won as a governor, our then president, may he still rest in peace, President Yar’Adua, had to come out publicly to say that the election that brought him as president was totally flawed. He said it was full of inconsistencies and rigging.”

The senate president said subsequent administrations have since “blocked the holes” that made electoral fraud possible in the past.

He described the controversy over the interpretation of “two-thirds of the states and the FCT” in the 2023 presidential election as unnecessary.

“So now, imagine this last election. We had to go up to supreme court, arguing as to whether winning the federal capital territory was the only reason why you should become president,” he said.

“Instead of FCT being counted as a state for the purpose of calculation, the two-thirds, people were saying, no, win FCT and then you have won the presidency.

So, you can lose in 36 states of the federation, but once you win FCT, you have become president. And they wasted time. They had panels upon panels in different television studios. And at the end of the day, we got to the supreme court and back.”

Akpabio said the new legislation aims to “block the loopholes” and strengthen Nigeria’s electoral system against manipulation.

“We must find a way to block the loopholes of such occurrences so that we can have a better electoral system,” he added.