Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi have strongly condemned the conduct of the Rivers State local government election, describing it as a mockery of democracy and a dangerous precedent for Nigeria’s democratic process.
Atiku, in a statement on Monday, described the election conducted by what he termed the “occupation government” in Rivers State as “an awful absurdity and a travesty to the very notion of elective democracy.”
He accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of “throwing caution to the wind” in a bid to achieve political advantage.
“The shameful and shambolic manner in which the occupation government went ahead to conduct local government elections in Rivers State leaves no doubt that the APC is bent on overturning the democratic rights of the people at all cost,” Atiku said.
He called on opposition parties in the state to reject the election, stressing that the government that conducted it was “extraneous to our laws, with absolutely no legitimacy to undertake such a crucial and sensitive assignment.”
Atiku further urged Nigerians, the international community, and Nigeria’s partners to take note of what he described as a “dangerous curve” under President Bola Tinubu’s regime.
Similarly, Peter Obi, in his reaction, said the conduct of the election was “rascality taken too far.” He faulted the legality of an election conducted by a Sole Administrator, who he argued was “illegally appointed in the first place.”
“This is not democracy; it is the outright desecration of its very foundation. Such actions are unconstitutional, legally untenable, and morally indefensible. Illegality can never give birth to legitimacy,” Obi stated.
He added that democracy cannot thrive where the will of the people is silenced, especially at the grassroots, which he described as the foundation of participatory governance.
“If we truly seek progress, we must uphold the sanctity of the ballot, safeguard the people’s right to choose, and insist that leadership flows from their mandate – not from contraptions that mock democracy,” Obi said.
Both opposition leaders expressed solidarity with the people of Rivers State, whom they described as victims of political brigandage, insisting that the sanctity of democracy must be defended at all levels of governance.
