The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay, says the 2023 election is one of the best in the country’s history.
He spoke while fielding questions on Channels Television Sunday Politics where he hailed the role of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the exercise.
While Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner of the presidential election, critics say the exercise was marred with violence. Top contenders like Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP)’s Peter Obi have challenged the outcome of the poll.
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But Sagay maintained that the exercise was credible, citing APC’s loss in its Lagos State stronghold.
“In my personal opinion, in terms of representing the minds and wishes of Nigerians in an election, this is probably the best election we have had,” he said on the show.
The previous elections especially during other democratic dispensations were marred by irregularities, the senior lawyer said.
“So, we had good elections in 2011, 2015, and 2019. But in terms of representing or interpreting what Nigerians feel, it [2023]is the best election we have ever had,” Sagay said.
“If you look at the ways things have gone with the BVAS (Bimordal Voter Accreditation System), the very idea that the APC was defeated in Lagos, that should make you realise immediately that these are very credible elections. If you go through the whole country, it is the same sort of accuracy and reflection on the feelings of Nigerians.”
Sagay argued that the 2023 elections were determined by ethnicity, religion, and organisational skills.
“But above all, what gave Tinubu the edge was his capacity to organise, plan and plant agencies and supporters and various administrative bodies all over the states in the country, ” the PACAC boss said.
“So, that in my view is the explanation of what happened,” he added. “So, I believe it expressed the true mind of Nigerians as of today. There is something natural about the results.”
The Labour Party, he admitted “did excellently well” in some areas, especially in the South-East but rued the party’s “abysmal results” in the North-East and North-West regions.
