Peter Obi, the former Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, has described Rivers State?s recently concluded local government elections as a ?mockery of democracy?.

Obi said in a post on his official X late on Sunday that the conduct was rascality taken too far, representing a double tragedy for the country?s democracy.

According to him, when an illegally appointed Sole Administrator conducts an election intended to empower the people, it is a degradation of democracy?s basic foundation.

The statement reads thus: ? Rivers LG Election: A Mockery of Democracy. The conduct of the Rivers State local Government election is rascality taken too far. It represents a double tragedy for our democracy when a Sole Administrator ? himself illegally appointed ? dares to conduct an election that should empower the people. This is not democracy; it is the outright desecration of its very foundation.

?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.

?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. ? (Daily Sun)

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