…Says declaration of APC, PDP as terrorist organisations embarrassing

…Does Not Define Coalition Strength – ADC

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) said last Saturday’s by-election was a dress rehearsal of what Nigerians and democratic nations would witness in the 2027 general elections.

ADC in a statement by the interim National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the elections were characterised by violence, vote buying, candidate intimidation and exclusion, as well as collusion between security forces and election officials.

The party stated that the exercise once again exposed how far Nigeria’s electoral process has deteriorated under President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to the ADC, what Nigerians witnessed during the by-elections was yet another reminder that under the current administration, democracy, just like the economy and the national security, continues to decline under President Tinubu and the APC.

It noted that in some states, nearly 300 thugs armed with rifles, knives, and cutlasses were arrested on election day, while “in some states, whole polling units were cancelled due to ballot box snatching and the open intimidation of voters.

“In one state, a vote-buyer was caught with N25.9 million intended to procure and corrupt the will of the people. In another, election officials were themselves implicated in similar inducements.

“This is no longer isolated malpractice; it is fast becoming the political culture of our electoral process under the APC.”

The party wondered if this could still be called “democracy or banditry disguised as voting?”

It stated that if citizens could not go to the polls without fear of assault, then the most basic covenant between the state and its people has already broken down.

ADC also condemned the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rise up to the occasion, and wondered why failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was still being experienced after many years it has become part of the nation’s electoral system.

This, the party said, raises the issue of competence and sincerity of the electoral management body.

It called on INEC to immediately investigate “the brazen and reckless irregularities that have been revealed and reported, sanction all compromised officials, and take the urgent and necessary steps to restore public confidence in our nation’s electoral process.

“If INEC cannot guarantee the integrity of a by-election, then Nigerians are right to question its institutional capacity and all-around readiness for a general election.”

The opposition coalition said Nigerians deserve elections that command the implicit confidence of every citizen and respect of the rest of the world, and warned that INEC must not be allowed to turn excuses into a code of conduct.

It called on President Tinubu to rise above partisan interest and demonstrate genuine leadership by ensuring that Nigerians can cast their votes freely and safely.

“The president must recognise that no government can claim legitimacy if it consistently presides over elections that citizens and the international community perceive as fraudulent,” the party warned.

ADC, however, said it did not field candidates for most of the positions contested in the by-election, but stated that the election should not be seen as a measure of the strength or capacity of the opposition coalition, “but rather as a sad reflection of how far the system has been corrupted against the will of the people.”

It called on the international community, Nigeria’s democratic partners and election observers, not to look away, and warned that silence in the face of such brazen subversion of democratic norms would only embolden those who profit from this chaos.

“Nigeria is too important to Africa and the world to allow its democracy to collapse under the weight of complicit impunity.

“We urge civil society, the media, faith leaders, and indeed every Nigerian who believes in freedom to resist the slide into electoral banditry.

“If we do not defend the sanctity of the ballot today, there may be nothing left to defend tomorrow,” it further warned.

The party noted the recent declaration of both the PDP and the APC as terrorist organisations by a Canadian court, and said this must have come as a great embarrassment to all citizens.

“But evidence of this by-election makes it difficult to plead their case,” the party stated.