Former Anambra State governor and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has condemned the conduct of the Rivers State local government elections, describing it as “rascality taken too far” and a “double tragedy for our democracy.”
In a statement issued on Sunday, Obi criticised the decision to allow a Sole Administrator — whom he described as “illegally appointed” — to oversee an election meant to empower the people.
“This is not democracy; it is the outright desecration of its very foundation,” he declared.
The local government elections, conducted on Saturday, saw the All Progressives Congress (APC) win 20 out of 23 local government areas, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured only three.
The exercise has continued to draw widespread backlash, with opposition figures, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, describing it as “a travesty to the very notion of elective democracy.”
Obi warned that such actions are “unconstitutional, legally untenable, and morally indefensible,” adding that they send a dangerous message that “the rule of law can be discarded at the whim of those in power.”
“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,” he stated.
“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,” he concluded.