By Musa Bakare.
A shocking, unforced admission on national television has ripped the mask off a section of Nigeria’s political class. An opposition figure openly boasted of hacking and intercepting the private communications of the nation’s top security official is to say the least very troubling.
This was no slip of the tongue. It was a confession.
In that instant, the pretence collapsed. The loudest voices preaching electoral integrity may, in fact, be among its most calculated saboteurs. The irony is as stunning as it is disturbing.
For months now, as Nigeria moves toward the 2027 presidential election, these same voices have flooded the public space. They relentlessly attack the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and cast doubt on the credibility of the National Assembly’s amendments to the Electoral Act. Simultaneously, they proclaim their inevitable victory in an election they seem unwilling to contest fairly, all while theatrically posing as the guardians of democracy.
Many Nigerians have wondered about the source of such extraordinary confidence. Now, the picture is becoming clearer.
When a man casually boasts of penetrating the communications of a nation’s security establishment, it reveals a dangerous mindset, one rooted in technological arrogance and the belief that every system can be compromised.
Perhaps this arrogance explains the relentless, audacious certainty with which they claim they will defeat the formidable All Progressives Congress in 2027.
As the African proverb wisely reminds us: When a blind man says he will stone you, he either has a stone in his hand or he is standing on one.
Now, as another election cycle approaches, an old ghost has returned: the familiar tale of the electronic glitch. Once again, whispers of inevitable technical failures are spreading. Once again, Nigerians are being subtly conditioned to expect mysterious breakdowns.
But Nigerians are no longer naïve. In politics, truth often escapes through the careless mouth of the overconfident. When certain actors begin predicting victory long before the first vote is cast, citizens must listen carefully. What is framed as concern may simply be the rehearsal of an excuse.
INEC introduced technology precisely to close the dark corridors of electoral fraud. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Results Viewing Portal (IReV) were designed to uphold a simple democratic principle: that the vote cast at the polling unit is the vote counted at the collation centre.
Nigerians are now beginning to understand why at every election cycle, the same script emerges. The orchestrated chorus about technical glitches has too often become a polite synonym for manipulation, a convenient scapegoat for desperate politicians who heap every failure onto INEC.
Democracy is not destroyed only by ballot box snatching. It is equally weakened when trust in the entire electoral chain; accreditation, counting, collation, and transmission is deliberately eroded.
The manufactured controversies of 2023, particularly the said delays and inconsistencies in the electronic upload of results, stretched public confidence to its limit. They raised a troubling question: was the technology designed to guarantee transparency being deliberately restrained and susceptible to manipulation ?
Now that electronic transmission of results is the law, the burden rests squarely on INEC to close every possible loophole ahead of 2027. The transmission must be seamless, transparent, and immune to manipulation. Results must move directly from polling units to the public domain without obstruction, glitch, alteration, or conveniently manufactured failure.
Nigerians must remain alert. When politicians begin preparing the public mind for glitches, wise citizens ask a simple question: is this a warning, or an excuse waiting for its moment ?
In politics, careless boasts often reveal the hidden script. And when they do, one conclusion becomes unavoidable:
This time, the devil has spoken loudly and clearly, thankfully, through the voluntary confession of one of its own.
– Musa Asiru Bakare, a foundation member of the APC and political analyst, writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.
