Former governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has criticised the conduct of the recently concluded local government elections in the state, saying the exercise “could have been done differently and better.”

Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Tuesday, Cole cautioned against ignoring the feelings of the people and the rules guiding democracy.

Naijaonpoint reports that Cole said, “One of the things that we have to be very careful about is that democracy is something that is continuous. Now, if we begin to ignore how the people feel, and we ignore the laws and the rules of democracy, and we set our own rules, I think it’s a very dangerous trend.”

The APC chieftain noted that while he had already expressed his dissatisfaction with the polls, there was a need to accept the outcome and move forward.

Cole added, “I’ve already spoken about the local government elections. I feel that we could have done it differently. It could have been done better. It could have been done with a much more holistic approach of engaging people and making sure that they understand that this is a process that affects their ultimate well-being.

“I don’t agree with the way the elections were done, but it is done; all we have to do is move on to the next one.”