Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, has denounced last Saturday’s Edo State off-cycle governorship election, describing it as an example of ‘state capture’, Okay.ng reports.
Obi, who played a pivotal role in the campaign of Olumide Akpata, the Labour Party’s candidate, made the remarks in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Monday.
Akpata lost his polling unit, ward, and local government, securing just 22,763 votes in the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election with 291,667 votes, while his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), garnered 247,274 votes.
In his reaction, Obi criticized the election process, stating that it did not reflect the democratic values Nigerians chose to elect their leaders.
“Instead, it was a blatant example of ‘state capture’ and continued gross undermining of our democratic process and values. Any nation whose leadership recruitment process is so fatally flawed is doomed, and we are all seeing the effect in our country,“ he said.
“I urge those in authority not to allow this situation to stand, or depend on it to remain in power,” Obi said.
He said Nigeria had invested significantly in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV), and must be allowed to function and used properly in order to free the electoral process from the “massive falsification that has plagued it and worsening”.
“To the agencies and individuals being used to undermine our democracy simply because they hold positions of authority, please remember that your time in office is not eternal. The society that you are helping to destroy today will eventually take her revenge on you tomorrow.
“To the lecturers and others complicit in perpetuating this charade, you must reflect deeply on the roles you are playing in damaging the very foundation of our democracy.”
