We must hold them responsible for the show of shame we are witnessing in Rivers. They provide cover for executive authoritarianism and give legitimacy to legislative rascality.
The Rivers State local government elections were held on Saturday. Despite widespread vehement opposition from notable Nigerians and stakeholders as it not only violates the Nigerian constitution but also makes a mockery of our nascent democracy. The conduct of the election is a crescendo in the season of anomie that has characterised unfolding socio-political events in Rivers for over half a year now. It started off with the unconstitutional removal of the state’s governor by President Bola Tinubu in what many have now conclusively agreed to be part of a grand plot to usurp and control the financial and political machinery of the state by the president and his henchmen as they move to consolidate their power before the next 2027 general election.
The decision to go ahead with the polls despite their illegality marked another sharp descent into the democratic abyss in our polity. The people, who are still simmering from the unilateral removal of their democratically elected governor and are yet to come to terms with such a reality, expressed their discontent and displeasure at the conduct of the election by a military administrator, himself illegally appointed, through their boycott of the poll. The election was marred by widespread voter apathy.
Despite many people knowing what to expect from the poll, the election outcome still left many aghast, shellshocked and troubled. The sheer manipulation and rigging is worrisome and disconcerting for many that participation in future elections is now under serious consideration and no longer a civic right they relish its exercise. It was almost as if those who organised the aberration were sending a message and letting people know the signs of things to come. A practice and a dress rehearsal for what 2027 portends.
According to the Rivers State electoral commission, the All Progressives Congress (APC), a hugely unpopular and much-disliked party in the state, miraculously won the election while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party ruling the state and its local government since 1999, won just three local government areas. To put things in perspective and underscore the magnitude of the electoral heist that took place on Saturday, Obio Okpo local government, which is where the FCT minister comes from, has over 300,280 votes; this is more than 231,591 votes garnered by President Bola Tinubu in the same state. Peter Obi came second in that election with 175,071 votes.
Despite reports of a statewide boycott of the election, over two million votes were magically manufactured by the organisers of the polls. More than five times the votes cast in the 2023 presidential election in the state. To make the perpetration of this wanton manipulation and egregious abuse of power easy, the state electoral commission jettisoned Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System and the INEC Result Viewing Portal, two devices introduced to curb rigging of election. It goes without saying that this election has brought nothing but disrepute and scorn to Nigeria in the international community. The worst fear of many right now is the deployment of a similar template for the 2027 election.
Finally, as we harp on this electoral sacrilege and desecration of our democracy and what they mean for our nation, we must not lose sight of or forget the hideous and unscrupulous role played by our judiciary in making all this possible, and we must hold them responsible for the show of shame we are witnessing in Rivers. They gave legitimacy to executive authoritarianism and provided cover for legislative rascality. It is not for nothing that the supreme Court has for some reason decided not to rule on the suit initiated by the PDP governors asking the apex Court to determine the legality and constitutionality of the state of emergency in Rivers, the suspension of the governor and the desolation of the state Democratic institutions. It is all part of the ploy to give Tinubu and his undemocratic cohorts enough wriggle room and latitude to orchestrate and perfectly execute their state capture and power grab.
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