Buhari: No one should underrate Nigerian voters again | Politics will be more difficult

President Muhammadu Buhari says the outcome of the 2023 elections has shown the growing strength of democracy in the country.

In a statement by Garba Shehu, media aide to the President, Buhari said the elections also showed the sophistication of the Nigerian voter when it comes to the choice of the leaders.

Shehu said the President spoke on Thursday when he received the newly-installed emir of Dutse,  Muhammad Hamim Nuhu Sunusi at the State House in Abuja.

Buhari said the outcome of 10 governors who could not win their election to the senate meant that there is no longer a guaranteed route to power, noting that the voter is truly the king when it comes to elections.

“It is a testament to the maturity of our democracy and to the amazing sophistication of the voter. What shocked me was that the ordinary citizen who is usually underrated has made the point of his political understanding of things,” the President was quoted as saying.

“Assumption is always that you are a governor for eight years and you go to the senate to crown the career. No one should underrate the Nigerian voter anymore. Politics will be more difficult, henceforth.”

Apart from the few previously held off-cycle governorship elections, the 2023 general election was the first Nigerian democratic process to witness electronic accreditation of voters and electronic transmission of results.

After the election, only 25 percent of the 469 members of the 9th assembly won to return to the 10th assembly. 

Seven governors, including Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Darius Ishaku (Taraba), Ben Ayade (Cross River) and Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) lost their bids to get elected into the national assembly.