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By Myke Agunwa
Presidential Candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, has described the recently concluded local government elections in Rivers State as executive rascality taken too far.
The Chairman of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), Dr. Michael Odey, announced on Sunday in Port Harcourt that the All Progressives Congress (APC) won in 20 local governments, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won only three in an election held on Saturday. From the result, the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara lost his Opobo-Nkoro LGA to the APC.
Obi who joined other democrats in condemning the conduct of the election, called it a “mockery of democracy”.
Tweeting via his verified X handle on Sunday he wrote, “The conduct of the Rivers State Local Government election is rascality taken too far. It represents a double tragedy for our democracy when a Sole Administrator – himself illegally appointed – dares to conduct an election that should empower the people. This is not democracy; it is the outright desecration of its very foundation.
“Such actions are unconstitutional, legally untenable, and morally indefensible. They send a dangerous message that the rule of law can be discarded at the whim of those in power. But the truth remains unshaken: illegality can never give birth to legitimacy. Any structure erected on a foundation of lawlessness is a danger to both the state and the people.”
The former Anambra State governor stated that Nigeria cannot continue on this dangerous path.
“We cannot pretend to practice democracy while silencing the will of the people – especially at the grassroots, where democracy matters most.
“If we truly seek progress, we must uphold the sanctity of the ballot, safeguard the people’s right to choose, and insist that leadership at every level flows from their mandate – not from contraptions that mock democracy. Only then will governance have meaning, and only then can the sacred bond of trust between leaders and the people be restored,” he added.