•Peter Obi
Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has described the conduct of local government elections in Rivers State by Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd), the sole administrator appointed by President Bola Tinubu, as “rascality taken too far, and a mockery of democracy”.
Obi, in a thread on his official X handle, expressed regret that the exercise “represents a double tragedy for our democracy when a Sole Administrator – himself illegally appointed – dares to conduct an election that should empower the people.”
The LP 2023 presidential candidate said, “This is not democracy,” labeling the conduct of the poll as an outright desecration of the very foundation of democracy itself, reports Daily Independent.
“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.
“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 said.
According to him, if the country must truly seek progress, Nigerians “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.”
