Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has described the rerun National Assembly and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State as a sad reminder of the level of destruction already done to the country’s electoral process by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Muhammadu Buhari, saying; “Free, fair and credible election is dead in the country and that whatever victory that is recorded by any political party in the Rivers State election will be nothing but victory at gun-point.”
The governor lamented that it was worrisome that the legacy of free, fair and credible election left by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been destroyed less than two years that the APC assumed power, saying; “We thought that we have gone past this era of manipulated electoral process after the 2015 general elections, which brought the APC and President Buhari to power, but the Buhari’s administration has taken us back to the stone age by merging his party with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the police, military and other security agencies.”
In a statement on Sunday, Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, quoted the governor as saying that with what was witnessed in Rivers State on Saturday, it is clear that Nigeria is under siege and only prompt intervention by the international community can save democracy in the country from this imminent collapse.”
He said: “It is sad that snatching of ballot boxes, hijacking of voting materials and electoral violence, which had become a thing of the past, have now become part of our electoral process.
“It is even more worrisome that despite that votes are counted openly at the polling units, electorate are no longer sure of the results of elections until announcement by INEC, which has become an organ of the APC,” the governor said.
Fayose described Buhari as a pretender, who has only paid lip service to the sustenance of democracy in the country, adding that “any president that looks the other way while the rights of his people to freely elect their leaders is being snatched at gunpoint by his own party men is not worthy of being associated with democracy.”
He reiterated his call to the United States President-Elect, Mr Donald Trump, to focus his attention more on Nigeria, with a view to saving the country from disintegration, saying; “God forbid, if Nigeria disintegrates, the entire continent of Africa will disintegrate.
“The order of the day in Nigeria now is disobedience to court orders, abuse of human rights, extra judicial killings and mass burial of innocent Nigerians killed by the Army. The reality we must all face is that should all these be allowed to continue, Nigeria faces imminent danger and the international community must not allow the country to get to that level of total collapse before it begins to call President Buhari and his APC to order.”
