{"id":107,"date":"2026-06-27T11:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T10:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=107"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:59:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:59:45","slug":"doubts-criticisms-trail-tinubus-acclaimed-10-million-votes-amid-nigerias-rising-voter-apathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=107","title":{"rendered":"Doubts, Criticisms Trail Tinubu’s Acclaimed 10 Million Votes Amid Nigeria’s Rising Voter Apathy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY EFE ETUATIMI TOTOH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Nigerian 2027 general elections approach, incumbent President Bola Tinubu’s 10.99 million votes in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary on May 20, 2026, have sparked sharp criticism and widespread disbelief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics argue that the results sharply contrast with Nigeria’s historic voter apathy during the 2023 general elections, which saw a record-low turnout of just 27%, making it the lowest since 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expectedly, leading opposition parties have called this figure and unbelievable concoction that doesn’t reflect political reality and warned it could signal rigging ahead of 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) disagrees with claims that Tinubu secured 10 million votes during the primaries, describing the figures as fabricated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Media Conversation reports that Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election with 8.8 million votes, representing less than 10% of the 93.5 million registered voters. This indicates that only a small fraction of the population actively chose him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts had reported that the 2023 general elections saw an abstention rate of 73%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria’s voter apathy is mainly driven by distrust in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), fears of violence at polling stations, concerns about the integrity of votes, and a consistent decline in voter turnout over successive elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on the issue, Hon. Cletus Obum, an APC leader, told newsmen that “Tinubu’s 10 million votes fell short of our expectations.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, a Special Adviser to the Governor of Delta State on Student Affairs, Mr. Anthony Okeoghene, insisted that the over 10 million votes garnered by the president is a show that more Nigerians are in the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further stressed that “it’s a tale of political dominance, looking at the numbers of state governors that are in the ruling party. Out of the 36 states, we have over 30 governors  in APC, meaning the governors and the members of their cabinet are in the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The APC claims over 10 million supporters in a single party primary, yet the country’s overall electoral participation remains critically low, with less than 5% of the total population. Unmet promises contributes largely to voter apathy in Nigeria and creates a disconnect between campaign promises and participation. As former presidential aide Olusegun Adeniyi noted: “The democracy we practice does not impact enough Nigerians to make them care about voting.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria’s voter apathy crisis extends beyond primary election controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2025, INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan stressed that technology alone cannot solve Nigeria’s persistent voter apathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the commission’s introduction of Biometric Voter Verification System (BVAS) and Internal Results Viewing (IREV) portal, voter participation has declined steadily since peaking at 69% in 2003, dropping sharply to just 27% in 2023, the lowest in Nigeria’s democratic history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro-democracy activists warn against repeating the 2023 scenario where fewer than nine million decisive voters chose the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Otive Igbuzor, Executive Director of the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, decried that “it’s unfortunate that such a small percentage determined the winner.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether 2027 will break this cycle remains Nigeria’s most pressing democratic question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Her Own Space (HOS), a women-focused fitness initiative, has officially launched regular sports and wellness programs designed to encourage physical fitness and active living among women in Abraka.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with Media Conversation, Ms. Christabel Agevafo, the founder of the initiative, explained that HOS was established to create a safe space where women can participate in sports, develop fitness routines, and enhance their overall well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY EFE ETUATIMI TOTOH As the Nigerian 2027 general elections approach, incumbent President Bola Tinubu’s 10.99 million votes in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary on May 20, 2026, have sparked sharp criticism and widespread disbelief. Critics argue that the results sharply contrast with Nigeria’s historic voter apathy during the 2023 general elections, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[24,21,22,23,20],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trendingnews","tag-24","tag-apc","tag-atiku","tag-elections","tag-tinubu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions\/279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}