Tinubu’s aide highlights ‘technical glitches’ in US election

President Bola Tinubu’s aide, Tope Ajayi, has highlighted technical glitches and logistical problems that affected the American midterm election, drawing comparisons with criticism of Nigeria’s electoral process.

Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, made the remarks in a post on X on Wednesday.

He said despite reported problems with the election, political commentators and operatives in the United States had not discredited the process in the same way some Nigerians criticise elections in the country.

“I have watched pundits and political operatives and partisan talking heads on various US television networks. Despite some of the technical glitches and logistical problems with the mid-term election they have not discredited the process like many of our people do here,” he wrote.

Ajayi cited reports of ballot scanner programming glitches in parts of New York, equipment malfunction in Broward County, Florida, and ballot shortages in Kansas.

He said the equipment malfunction in Broward County delayed the voting process, while a polling station in Kansas reportedly received only 100 paper ballots instead of 100,000.

“There was also the case of 250,000 ballots that will be counted manually as a result technical problem with the voting machine,” Ajayi added.

His comments come amid lingering controversy over the conduct of Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election, which was criticised by opposition parties and observers over technical and logistical problems.