“Elections Have Improved Tremendously Since PDP Left Power” — Akpabio

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has stated that Nigeria’s electoral process has improved significantly since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) left power. Speaking during Wednesday’s plenary session, Akpabio made the remarks as lawmakers debated a bill to repeal the Electoral Act 2022 and introduce a new Electoral Bill 2025, which passed its second reading in the Senate.

Akpabio, who served as governor of Akwa Ibom State from 2007 to 2015 and was first elected to the Senate under the PDP, said elections held during the PDP era were marked by widespread irregularities and manipulation. He recalled that even late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua admitted that the 2007 general elections that brought him to power were flawed.

“You will agree with me that since PDP left, the elections have improved tremendously in this country,” Akpabio said. “When I won as governor in 2007, President Yar’Adua publicly acknowledged that the election that brought him into office was full of inconsistencies and rigging.”

The Senate President noted that subsequent administrations had taken steps to close the loopholes that previously allowed electoral fraud. He also dismissed the controversy surrounding the interpretation of “two-thirds of the states and the FCT” in the 2023 presidential election as unnecessary, saying it created needless public debate.

“Instead of treating the FCT as a state for the purpose of calculation, some argued that winning the FCT alone was enough to become president,” Akpabio said. “Panels upon panels discussed this on television, and eventually the matter ended up at the Supreme Court.”

He emphasized that the new electoral legislation aims to strengthen the system and prevent manipulation in future elections. “We must find a way to block such loopholes so that we can have a better electoral system,” he added.