{"id":121769,"date":"2025-09-01T07:55:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T06:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=121769"},"modified":"2025-09-01T07:55:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T06:55:16","slug":"occupation-govt-lacks-legitimacy-atiku-condemns-rivers-lg-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/occupation-govt-lacks-legitimacy-atiku-condemns-rivers-lg-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Occupation Govt Lacks Legitimacy, Atiku Condemns Rivers LG Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Oscar Okhifo<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has slammed the conduct of the Rivers State local government elections, declaring that the \u201coccupation government\u201d behind the exercise has no legitimacy under the law.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He urged opposition parties to reject the results, which gave the All Progressives Congress (APC) an overwhelming victory.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The polls, conducted on Saturday, August 30, 2025, under the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), produced a landslide for the APC, which won 20 of the 23 chairmanship seats, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured only three.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a statement on Sunday, Atiku dismissed the process as illegitimate, saying it was organised by an \u201coccupation government\u201d that lacked the constitutional authority to oversee such an exercise.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe local government election conducted by the occupation government in Rivers State is an awful absurdity and a travesty to the very notion of elective democracy,\u201d the 2023 PDP presidential candidate said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He urged opposition parties to reject the outcome, stressing that \u201cthe occupation government that conducted the exercise is extraneous to our laws, with absolutely no legitimacy to undertake such a crucial and sensitive assignment.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Atiku further warned that Nigeria was drifting into a dangerous political trajectory under President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe attention of well-meaning Nigerians, the international community and partners of the country must be drawn to this dangerous curve that the Tinubu regime is taking our dear country,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The former vice president also expressed solidarity with the people of Rivers State, describing them as \u201cvictims of political brigandry carried out by a powerful cabal bent on overturning their democratic rights at all cost.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The election was held amid the lingering political crisis in Rivers State, following the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the House of Assembly earlier this year by President Tinubu, and the appointment of Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas (retd.) as the state\u2019s sole administrator.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was reported yesterday that both the &#8220;deposed&#8221; Governor and his supporters stayed away from the LG polls which many citizens and Civil Societies described as a charade. The Sole Administrator, Nyesom Wike and his loyals hailed the exercise as free and fair and the true reflection of the people of Rivers state.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Oscar Okhifo Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has slammed the conduct of the Rivers State local government elections, declaring that the \u201coccupation government\u201d behind the exercise has no legitimacy&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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