Sequel to the violence that rocked the RiverS State re-run elections, with soldiers and other military personnel, alleged to have collaborated with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to rig the polls, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has reacted to the development.
According to a statement by Fayose, on Monday, December 12, President Muhammadu Buhari, has so far destroyed the legacies of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the conduct of free and fair elections.
The Governor, described Saturday’s rerun National and State 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 APC government, led by President Buhari.
He said, “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.”
Fayose added, that it has become 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.
“We thought that we had gone past this era of manipulated electoral process, after the 2015 general election, which brought the APC, and President Buhari to power, but the Buhari administration has taken us back to the Stone Age, by merging his party, APC, with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the police, military, and other security agencies,” Fayose said.
Fayose maintained that what happened in Rivers on Saturday, is a clear indication that Nigeria is under siege, and that, “only prompt intervention by the international community, can save democracy in the country from this imminent collapse”.
“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,” he said.
“It is even more worrisome, that despite that votes are counted openly at the polling units, electorates are no longer sure of the results of elections, until announcement by INEC, which has become an organ of the APC.”
He described Buhari as, “a pretender, who has only paid lips 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 also called on the United States of America, USA, President-Elect, Donald Trump, to focus his attention more on Nigeria, with a view to saving the country from disintegrating.
“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.” Fayose said.
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