Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has praised President Bola Tinubu’s democratic credentials, saying the ruling party’s loss of the Osun governorship election shows that democracy is taking firmer root in Nigeria.
Sanwo-Olu said this on Thursday at the seventh annual lecture organised by Freedom Online at the Sheraton Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, where he discussed Nigeria’s democracy and preparations for the 2027 elections.
He cited the August 15 Osun election, which was won by Governor Ademola Adeleke of another political party, as evidence of Tinubu’s commitment to democratic principles. Adeleke defeated the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, by more than 60,000 votes.
Tinubu congratulated Adeleke after the election, describing his victory as a “fitting assurance” that democracy would continue to flourish under his administration. He later met the governor at the Presidential Villa in Abuja and urged him to unite the state.
“There was a time in this country when ‘federal might’ was a phrase that a ruling party used without irony,” Sanwo-Olu 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 said electoral reforms and technology had improved Nigeria’s electoral process but stressed the need for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be fully prepared for 2027.
“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,” he said.
The governor also warned politicians against violence and electoral malpractice, insisting that no political victory was worth 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.
He urged voters to judge governors by their performance and challenged the media to hold political leaders accountable, including those within their own ranks.
“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.”
