Atiku Lists Nine Conditions for Tinubu’s Government to Restore Electoral Integrity
By Joseph Iyaji | Akahi News
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has outlined nine key conditions he said must be fulfilled by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to restore electoral integrity and strengthen Nigeria’s democracy.
In a statement shared on his official X handle on Thursday, Atiku applauded Nigerians for their enthusiasm in the ongoing Permanent Voter Card (PVC) registration exercise but emphasised that credible elections go beyond registration, requiring comprehensive electoral and judicial reforms.
Declining Voter Confidence
Atiku noted that voter turnout in the 2023 general elections was the lowest since 1999, with only 24.9 million of the 93.47 million registered voters participating—representing 26.72 per cent. He warned that unless urgent reforms are carried out, public confidence in Nigeria’s democratic process will continue to erode.
Quoting Prof. Chidi Odinkalu’s book, The Selectorate, the former vice president stressed that elections in Nigeria are increasingly being decided by judges rather than voters, a trend he described as dangerous for democracy.
The Nine Conditions
Atiku’s proposed reforms include:
- Mandatory use of BVAS for voter accreditation and upload of election results at all polling and collation centres.
- Mandatory electronic transmission of results to the INEC Results Viewing (iREV) portal, with no discretion for manual transmission.
- Ward-level collation of results strictly based on electronically transmitted figures.
- Local government collation strictly based on electronically transmitted ward results.
- State-level collation strictly based on electronically transmitted local government results.
- National collation strictly based on electronically transmitted state results.
- Ban on manual accreditation, transmission, and collation of results at all levels.
- Democratic voting for the appointment of the INEC Chairman, Resident Electoral Commissioners, and National Commissioners.
- Shifting the burden of proof in election petitions to INEC, compelling the commission to demonstrate substantial compliance with the Electoral Act and Constitution.
Returning Power to the People
Atiku maintained that implementing these reforms would return power to the people, reduce the influence of vested interests, and restore credibility to Nigeria’s electoral system.
He concluded that without these changes, the country risks further diminishing public trust in democracy and entrenching judicial and political manipulation of elections.
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