The just concluded gubernatorial election in Osun State is both a statement and a testament to the consistent and commendable growth of democracy in Nigeria. Although I was and still am disinterested in the outcome of the election, the victory of the incumbent governor is politically significant.

The re-election of Governor Ademola Adeleke speaks to many things among which are the beauty of democracy and the power of the electorate. The growth in the Nigerian democratic structure where godfatherism, incumbency and federal might no longer mean so much is commendable. Osun has spoken. The people have chosen. The choice has been made. A winner has emerged. But there is a question on my mind: would the atmosphere has been the same if it were the other way round?

A growing pattern in Nigerian democracy in recent times is the pity card which manifests through the ideologies of demonisation and weaponisation. In the demonisation ideology, the electoral process is often constructed to be a contest between the demon and the angel. There is usually the party and/or the candidate that is represented as having the tendency to manipulate the election, create chaos and cause unrest. That is “the demon” to which or to whom all the torches must be directed. The party that is believed to have the apparatuses of rigging and that must not be allowed to do so in the interest of the other party with the angel that cannot and will not do anything impure. This demonisation ideology achieves its aim once the “angel” wins and the “demon” loses. The election becomes fair and in unison we can scream “power to the people”.

The weaponisation ideology plays out when emotion becomes a gimmick and a party or candidate depicts themselves as the helpless one whom the citizenry must come to their aid; the one the world should not allow the powerful and influential other side to rig against. The weaponisation ideology deploys pity as a weapon of electoral support by representing self as the powerless and the other as the powerful who must not be allowed to exercise such illegitimate power. Again, once the political power comes to the supposedly powerless, then it is said to be power to the people and for the people. If otherwise, power would have been ruthlessly used by the supposedly powerful to illegitimately seize political power.

While this piece might seemingly speak to the just concluded Osun State election in Nigeria at the micro level, on a larger scale, it addresses a bigger concern in the Nigerian electoral landscape which is deserving of public enlightenment in order to shed light on the dynamics of democracy and its electoral process. Rather than having to match the ideologies mentioned in this pie with examples in previous elections in the country, I chose to simply have us reflect on the core of the piece which is the pity card electoral strategy.

The ballot is stronger than the bullet, said Abraham Lincoln. However, citizens must be mindful of other triggers that politicians and political parties pull aside bullets and must not become manipulative tools for such ideological strategies geared towards attracting political favour. There is no disputing the fact that electioneering which is the act of campaigning to influence the result of an election in favour of a particular candidate or party is part of a democratic process, it should, however, not be used to cause unrest in the polity when it does not achieve its aim.

God bless Osun State; God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

(c) 2026 Ganiu Bamgbose writes from Lagos.