Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party has reacted to the recently concluded August 30, Local Government Council elections in Rivers State.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, described the election as a mockery of Nigeria’s democracy.
In a statement released on X on Sunday, Obi said the conduct of the poll is a show of rascality that has been taken too far.
He also said that the conduct of the election is a double tragedy for the nation’s democracy, especially 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,” Obi said.
The former governor further stated that Nigeria cannot continue to carry on such a perilous path while pretending to practice democracy.
“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,” Obi said.
