Lagos APC faults report on 2023 presidential election, says Peter Obi wasn’t defeated by conspiracy
The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has interrogated further the independent, data-driven report of the 2023 election.
It stated that without equivocation the findings offer a “sobering, factual explanation for one of the most striking paradoxes of the 2023 presidential election: Peter Obi’s near-mythical dominance in the South-East and his resounding electoral collapse across the rest of Nigeria.”
Spokesman of the state arm of the party, Seye Oladejo, said “This is not political conjecture. It is mathematics, statistics, and electoral geography speaking plainly.”
In a statement he signed, Oladejo said: “The study establishes that: Anambra recorded a staggering 24.9% anomaly rate, meaning nearly one in four polling units showed multiple fraud indicators. Enugu followed with 16.7%, while Imo recorded 10.9%. These three states alone accounted for a disproportionate share of the 4,351 anomalous polling units identified nationwide -3.5% of all 123,918 polling units analysed.”
He noted that by contrast “Lagos State, despite being the political base of the eventual winner, recorded just 2.3%. Oyo State recorded an almost negligible 0.3% anomaly rate.
“In an election decided by margins running into hundreds of thousands of votes, such clusters of “perfect scores,” suspiciously round percentages, and statistically improbable vote distributions -2,328 of which were traced largely to LP strongholds -are not trivial. They are electorally consequential.
“This statistical reality explains why Peter Obi appeared electorally invincible in his Eastern stronghold, posting implausibly dominant margins, while simultaneously suffering outright rejection across the North, South-West, South-South, and large swathes of the Middle Belt, where competitive political ecosystems made such manipulation far more difficult to execute or conceal.”
He maintained that Obi’s popularity is not a defence against irregularity.
Oladejo said the report correctly acknowledged that Peter Obi “enjoyed genuine popularity in the South-East. Lagos APC does not dispute this. However, the study exposes an inconvenient but critical truth: hegemonic popularity is precisely the environment in which subtle electoral manipulation thrives.”
He added: “Where opposition voices are muted or socially ostracised, Result sheets face less scrutiny. Party agents are fewer or intimidated.
“Plausible fraud” -58% here, 65% turnout there – slips through as defensible, even when fraudulent.
“Conversely, in politically pluralistic states such as Lagos, Oyo, Kaduna, and Plateau, the presence of multiple strong parties, vigilant agents, and active civil society naturally constrains such practices.
“Let the record be stated plainly:
Peter Obi secured only 29.1% of the total votes cast nationwide. He placed third overall, behind both APC and PDP. Outside the South-East, his performance was not merely weak -it was catastrophic for anyone presented as a serious national alternative.”
Oladejo noted that the report does not delegitimise Nigeria’s democracy, nor does it invalidate the 2023 election.
“What it does and does powerfully is restore honesty to a debate long polluted by emotion, misinformation, and selective outrage.”
The spokesman of the state arm of the party stressed that the former Labour Party’s presidential candidate was not defeated by conspiracy in 2023.
“He was defeated by electoral arithmetic, national spread requirements, competitive politics – and his failure to translate regional enthusiasm into national acceptability.
“The Lagos State APC welcomes further independent audits, stronger technological safeguards, and the visible prosecution of offenders across all parties.
“Democracy is best served not by mythology, but by truth. And the numbers, once again, refuse to lie,” he added.
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