Friday, September 4, 2026 - Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has praised President Bola Tinubu’s democratic credentials, saying the outcome of the recent Osun governorship election demonstrated that a ruling party could lose an election without interfering with the process.
Sanwo-Olu spoke on Thursday, September 3, at Freedom
Online’s seventh annual lecture at the Sheraton Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, where he
addressed Nigeria’s democracy, electoral reforms and preparations for the 2027
general elections.
The governor cited the August 15 Osun governorship election,
won by incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke, as evidence of what he described as
Tinubu’s commitment to democratic principles. Adeleke, who contested on the
platform of another political party, defeated the All Progressives Congress
candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, by more than 60,000 votes.
Following the election, Tinubu congratulated Adeleke on his
re-election, describing the outcome as a “fitting assurance” that democracy
would continue to flourish under his administration. The President also
subsequently met Adeleke behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa in Abuja
and urged him to unite the state. Sanwo-Olu said the development represented a
departure from periods in Nigeria’s political history when opposition parties
struggled against the influence of the party controlling the Federal
Government.
“There was a time in this country when ‘federal might’ was a
phrase that a ruling party used without irony,” he said. “Under this President,
the ruling party can lose a state in the South-West in an election year, and
the sky does not fall. That is what a maturing democracy looks like. This
President is a lifelong democrat, and he means to leave behind a stronger
democracy than he inherited, not only for Nigerians but as an example to a
continent that badly needs one.”
Sanwo-Olu also said Nigeria’s electoral system had recorded
significant improvements, citing the Electoral Act of 2022, the newly enacted
Electoral Act of 2026 and the deployment of technology for voter verification
and transmission of election results. He, however, stressed that more work was
required to ensure the Independent National Electoral Commission was fully
prepared for the 2027 elections.
“INEC must be ready in every polling unit on the 16th of
January and again on the 6th of February, and each of us has a duty to help it
be ready,” the governor said. Sanwo-Olu cautioned political parties and
candidates against actions capable of undermining the electoral process,
insisting that no political office was worth the loss of a Nigerian life.
“A mandate is only as strong as the process that produced
it. No office in this land is worth the life of a single Nigerian and no
victory won by the wrong means is a victory at all,” he said. The Lagos
governor also said state governors would have a significant role in determining
the outcome of the 2027 elections because voters would assess their performance
before casting their ballots.
“Voters may not be economists, but they are excellent
accountants. They know whether their State built the road it promised. They
know whether the primary health centre has a nurse in it. They will bring that
ledger with them to the polling unit,” he said. Sanwo-Olu also urged the media
to remain independent and rigorous in its coverage of the political process,
saying journalists should hold politicians accountable regardless of party
affiliation.
“I am not asking for a compliant press. A compliant press is
of no use to a democracy; it flatters the powerful and abandons the public,” he
said. “I am asking for a rigorous press. Check the facts, mine included. Call
out disinformation wherever it comes from, including from my own side. In the weeks
ahead, the most dangerous lies will not come from newspapers. They will come
from anonymous accounts and doctored videos and you are the institution best
placed to answer them.”
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