Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has condemned the conduct of the just-concluded local government elections in Rivers State, describing the exercise as a “mockery of democracy.”
Obi, in a post on his official X handle late Sunday, said the process represented “rascality taken too far” and a double tragedy for Nigeria’s democratic system.
According to him, any election organised by a Sole Administrator illegally installed in office cannot pass as a democratic exercise but a desecration of its foundation.
The former Anambra State governor maintained that such actions were unconstitutional, legally baseless and morally wrong. He further warned that they projected a dangerous signal that the rule of law could be jettisoned at the whim of those in authority.
“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.