Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Sunday described the local government election in Rivers State as shameful.
Atiku said the election showed that a power cabal is bent on overturning the democratic rights of Rivers people at all costs.
In a post on X, he urged the opposition in the state to reject the results of the election because it was conducted by a government that is extant to the law.
He said: “The 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.
“By the shameful and shambolic manner in which the occupation government went ahead to conduct local government elections in Rivers State, it is clear that the ruling APC party is not leaving anyone in doubt that it is prepared to throw caution to the wind in order to achieve an inordinate political advantage.
“It therefore becomes necessary to call the attention of well-meaning Nigerians, the international community, and all friends and partners of Nigeria to the dangerous curve that the President Bola Tinubu regime is taking our dear country.
“I will also call on all opposition parties in Rivers State to reject the local government election on the premise that the occupation government that conducted the exercise is extraneous to our laws, with absolutely no legitimacy to undertake such a crucial and sensitive assignment.
“In the same breath, I wish to share my unflinching solidarity with the good people of Rivers State, who are currently victims of political brigandry by a power cabal which is bent on overturning their democratic rights at all costs.” – AA
Meanwhile, former Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi has described the just concluded Local Governments’ election in Rivers State as a “mockery of democracy.”
In a post via his official X handle late on Sunday, Obi said the conduct of the was rascality taken too far, which represents a double tragedy for the country’s democracy.
According to him, when a Sole Administrator, illegally appointed conducts an election that should empower the people, it is not democracy but outright desecration of its very foundation.
The former Anambra state governor added that such actions are unconstitutional, legally untenable, and morally indefensible.
He added that the actions 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.
“Nigeria cannot afford to continue on this perilous path. We cannot pretend to practise democracy while silencing the will of the people – especially at the grassroots, where democracy matters most,” he wrote.