By Rayyanu Bala

The rejection of the outcome of the APC governorship primary election in Nasarawa State by some aspirants, notably former Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, has once again reminded Nigerians of a familiar political tradition that every election is considered free, fair, and credible only when our preferred aspirant wins.
According to the results announced from the governorship primary election conducted across Nasarawa State’s 147 electoral wards, Senator Ahmed Wadada Aliyu secured a landslide victory with 195,285 votes. Mohammed Abubakar Adamu came a distant second with 49,675 votes, while the other aspirants recorded significantly lower numbers.
Immediately after the results were announced, supporters of Mohammed Abubakar Adamu began describing the election as fraudulent. To hear some of them speak, one would think the entire exercise was nothing more than a grand conspiracy designed to stop their preferred aspirant.
For example, if the results had been reversed and Mohammed Abubakar Adamu had emerged victorious with nearly 200,000 votes while Ahmed Wadada Aliyu finished second, would these same supporters be calling the election fraudulent? The answer is obvious. They would probably be celebrating the process as the most transparent and credible primary election ever conducted in the history of Nasarawa State.
This scenario has become one of the most predictable features of Nigerian politics. Politicians and their supporters judge elections not by the quality of the process but by the outcome. When they win, democracy has worked. When they lose, democracy has been murdered.
The reality is that allegations of irregularities should be backed by evidence, not sentiments. Losing an election does not automatically make the election fraudulent. Political contests produce winners and losers; that is the nature of democracy.
Unfortunately, many politicians have conditioned their supporters to believe that their preferred aspirant can only lose if there has been some form of manipulation. This mindset makes it difficult for political actors to accept defeat gracefully and focus on improving their strategies for future contests.
Nigerian politicians are truly fascinating in this regard. No matter how free and fair an election may appear, the moment the results do not go their way, the vocabulary changes instantly. Terms such as rigging, manipulation, fraud, conspiracy, and injustice suddenly dominate the airwaves.
Perhaps one day our politics will mature to the point where politicians can accept both victory and defeat with equal respect for the democratic process. Until then, Nigerians will continue to witness the same old drama: a “credible election” when we win and a “fraudulent election” when we lose.