By PETER ANOSIKE

A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nelson Ahamefula Akuma, has described last Saturday?s local government election in Rivers State as nothing but a sham.

Speaking to news men while reacting to the polls, he said that what truly happened was a mere formality to endorse candidates selected by Nyesom Wike during the primary.

According to him what stood out in the so-called local government election was voter apathy as most people in the state were forced to stay in door due to government imposed movement restriction from midnight till 4pm.

Speaking further, he said that the City of Port Harcourt has never witnessed the type of voter apathy like the one that happened last Saturday because of overwhelming security presence along major roads which led to unusually deserted streets on the election day, while in a lot of others areas, voting activities were non-existent, most especially in opposition strong holds like Abua-Odual, Ahoada East and Ahaoda West.

He said in some of the polling booths, security operatives outnumbered those who came out to vote.

According to him, the democratic right of the good of Rivers State to elect who would lead them at the third tier of government was deliberately suppressed by Nyesom Wike who acted as the de facto Rivers State Electoral Commission and allocated the votes as it suited his whims and caprices.

He called on all lovers of democracy to wake up and save Nigeria?s democracy which he said is losing it essence under the watch of APC administration.

?I watched the charade called Rivers State Local Government Election last Saturday and I was shocked by what I saw. The will of the good people of Rivers State was suppressed. It was even a waste of time for those who left whatever they were doing to participate in the sham. Sincerely, I don?t know that we have fallen this low in our practice of democracy. All the gains that we have made some years back have been eroded by the APC administration. Imagine where the Minister of Federal Capital Territory acted as the de facto chairman of Rivers State Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and allocated the votes and local government areas as it pleased him??

Asked why All Progressives Congress lost in Obia Akpo local government where the FCT Minister hails from, he said that the Minister was trying to play smart.

He alleged that the results of the whole elections were already written even before the day of the election, adding that that was the main reason most of the eligible voters stayed away.

?What was witnessed in Rivers State was a blatant subversion of the people?s will. Majority of the eligible voters stayed away because the election results were already known. In fact the day the candidates were nominated was the day the real election was conducted. So what happened on Saturday was the formal coronation of those that emerged as local government chairmen. Democracy is built on the sanctity of the ballot but what happened in Rivers was nothing short of a travesty, a mockery of democracy and this has become the trademark of the APC.?

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