The Labour Party (LP) has taken a swipe at the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the brazen electoral heist that took place across the country on Saturday in the name of off cycle by-elections, wondering what 2027 general election holds for Nigerians.
Raising the alarm to the brigandage defined by large-scale rigging, brazen vote-buying, and violence
the party cried that collusion of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) with security operatives during the by-elections portend a dangerous dress rehearsal ahead of coming elections and must be halted.
In a statement signed by Ken Eluma Asogwa, Senior Special, Adviser, Media to the Interim National Chairman, Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Usman, the party said it was appalled at the Prof Mahmood Yakubu led INEC could not conduct minor by-elections with integrity.
“What transpired across Nigeria yesterday in the name of by-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. 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,” Usman said.
Labour Party insisted that the charade that happened on Saturday must not be allowed to define future elections and called on Tinubu to stop future desecration of the nation’s democracy.
“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,” Usman added.