TELL Magazine

President Muhammadu Buhari Saturday morning raised eyebrows when he brandished his ballot paper before dropping it into the box to show the candidate he voted for. Buhari voted with his wife, Aisha, some minutes after 10 am, at his Sarkin Yara A Kofar Baru 01/003 polling unit in Daura, Katsina State.
Nigerians watched aghast as the president, not once, but twice openly displayed his ballot paper to the crowd thus wittingly or unwittingly showing that he voted for his party’s candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. Brandishing his thumb-printed ballot paper was in violation of Section 122 subsection 3 (b) of the Electoral Act, which says it is wrong to ” communicate at any time to any other person information obtained in
a polling unit as to the candidate to whom a voter is about to vote or has
voted for.” The punishment for defilement is stated in subsection (4): “Any person acting contrary to the provisions of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N100,000 or
imprisonment for a term of three months or both.” So, by displaying his ballot, the president could be said to have communicated information about his choice to people at his polling unit. That is left to the relevant authorities to determine though.
The president’s action may not be unconnected with the wrangling in the party ahead of the election amidst allegation that some cabals in Aso Rock were working for the failure of their candidate. The president had also been accused of not supporting Tinubu with the federal government’s currency redesign policy, and scarcity of fuel which his handlers claimed were targeted at him.
Speaking to journalists after he voted, President Buhari said during electioneering, he had made his choice of candidate known. “In Nasarawa, in Katsina, in Sokoto, all over the place, I mentioned my favourite candidate and I believe my constituency will choose him a 100 percent”. He advised that Nigerians “should make sure that they are being respected; that means the candidate they want to vote for, they are allowed to vote for him”. He recalled how he tried three times to be president, “I ended up in Supreme Court three times and then the fourth time, I said God dey, and God sent technology. With permanent voter card, no candidate can claim anything more than one vote for himself”.
Political watchers, who faulted the president’s action, said he didn’t need to violate the same law he signed to prove his loyalty to his party and support for their candidate.
Recall that in 2019, Buhari had spied his wife’s ballot paper before she put it in the ballot box apparently to see if she voted for him which was also against the law.