From Idu Jude, Abuja
Sen. Nenadi Usman, who led the interim National Working Committee (INWC) of the Labour Party, has described the Saturday bye-elections across the country as a sham and a dress rehearsal of what the ruling APC has in stock for Nigerians in 2027.
The INWC, in a press statement over the weekend, remarked that what transpired across Nigeria on Saturday, in the name of bye-elections was nothing short of a mockery of democracy, a travesty of justice against the Nigerian people, and a dangerous dress rehearsal of what may befall us in 2027 if citizens do not act swiftly to halt this brigandage.
“From Kaduna to Anambra, Ogun to Oyo, and Kano, the narrative remained the same: large-scale rigging, brazen vote-buying, and violence defined the process. Independent accounts confirmed that the ruling APC – often in collusion with security agencies stood at the very centre of these shameful acts that desecrated our electoral space. If INEC cannot conduct minor off-season elections with integrity, one shudders at the thought of how it intends to manage the nationwide polls of 2027”.
The statement held that “True to character, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under Professor Mahmoud Yakubu did not disappoint. Two years after the brazen electoral heist that robbed the Labour Party and the Nigerian people of their mandate, we had hoped that the passage of time would inspire Yakubu to at least attempt a semblance of redemption – a pretence at leaving behind a legacy. Yesterday’s outing has proven that such expectations were misplaced.
“We therefore call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to rise to the occasion and rescue our democracy from imminent collapse. The charade witnessed yesterday must not be allowed to define future elections. History will be most unkind to President Tinubu if he permits the hawks around him to push him into further desecrating our democracy in the narrow pursuit of retaining power, even in the face of overwhelming rejection by a weary citizenry already pauperised by the ill-conceived policies of his administration.”
