The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay, has said followers of the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, were deceived by opinion polls predicting the victory of the party.
Sagay disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television’s programme, Sunday Politics.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who said he was not surprised by the victory of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the election, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, dismissed the results of those opinion polls, saying they were never a reflection of the opinions of Nigerians.
“I had no faith in those polls [predicting Obi’s victory]. You just pick up your phone, phone youths in urban areas and they tell you their views.
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“Do you know the views of the massive Northern rural population? Were they contacted? They were not contacted. It’s a very unfortunate thing that it set up the stage to mislead the Labour Party that it was going to win. When I was reading those polls, I was just laughing because you picked a few urban youths and you said that is Nigeria.
“Nigeria is a rural country with a massive number of people in villages all over the country, particularly in the North and their views were not taken into consideration and that was why there was such a contradiction. The [opinion] polls were not credible.”
Sagay dismissed claims of manipulations in the 2023 elections, adding that: “Can you imagine APC losing in Lagos?”
He said the 2023 election is probably Nigeria’s best so far, adding that it was the best representation of the people’s wishes.
Sagay argued that the 2023 elections were determined by ethnicity, religion, and organisational skills.
“But above all, what gave Tinubu the edge was his capacity to organise, plan and plant agencies and supporters and various administrative bodies all over the states in the country, ” the PACAC boss said.
“So, that in my view is the explanation of what happened,” he added. “So, I believe it expressed the true mind of Nigerians as of today. There is something natural about the results.”
He said those aggrieved should seek redress and if they fail, plan better and wait for 2027.
