Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi have faulted the conduct of the local government elections in Rivers State, describing the exercise as unlawful and a mockery of democracy.

“The local government election conducted by the occupation government in Rivers State is an awful absurdity and a travesty to the very notion of elective democracy. By the shameful and shambolic manner in which the occupation government went ahead to conduct local government elections in Rivers State, it is clear that the ruling APC party is not leaving anyone in doubt that it is prepared to throw caution to the wind in order to achieve an inordinate political advantage,” Atiku said on X on Monday.

He warned that the development signaled a troubling path under the Tinubu administration.

Atiku also urged opposition parties in Rivers State to reject the election, insisting that the body that conducted the polls had no legal legitimacy.

“It therefore becomes necessary to call the attention of well-meaning Nigerians, the international community, and all friends and partners of Nigeria to the dangerous curve that the President Bola Tinubu regime is taking our dear country.

“In the same breath, I wish to share my unflinching solidarity with the good people of Rivers State, who are currently victims of political brigandry at the hands of a power cabal that is bent on overturning their democratic rights at all costs,” he stated.

Similarly, Peter Obi condemned the polls, calling them an unconstitutional assault on democracy.

Obi said the conduct of the Rivers State local government election was “rascality taken too far”.

“It represents a double tragedy for our democracy when a sole administratorhimself 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,” he said.

He further argued that such actions undermine the rule of law and threaten governance at its most fundamental level.

“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. We cannot pretend to practise democracy while silencing the will of the people especially at the grassroots, where democracy matters most,” he added.

Obi concluded by stressing the need to protect the sanctity of the ballot, uphold the people’s right to choose, and ensure leadership flows from the people’s mandate rather than contraptions that mock democracy.