A Chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Dele Momodu, has said he is close to losing hope in Nigeria following his assessment of last Saturday’s Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Momodu, a presidential aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Publisher of Ovation Magazine, made the remarks while speaking during a virtual interview on Thursday.
During the interview shared on X, Momodu criticised the conduct of the election, describing the election as flawed and disappointing.
Momodu also criticised those commending the exercise, insisting that the process fell short of acceptable standards.
The journalist-turned-politician expressed concern that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, whom he referred to as an interested party, was permitted to move around polling units during the exercise.
According to him, the development raised questions about fairness and contributed to voter apathy
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He said, “I’m a member of the opposition. My duty is not to praise a shambolic election, an election in which an interested party, an interested minister, was allowed to go from polling unit to polling unit, saying he is monitoring.
“Someone that you know is so tempestuous and so interested in the election. He was being allowed to roam about.
“So, they should have allowed members of other parties to roam about; maybe they’ll allow our National Chairman, a retired army general (Senator David Mark), to move from polling unit to polling unit, saying he wants to make sure the election is free and fair.
“I have almost virtually given up on our country. “That election was extremely bad. Even look at how many people came out to vote.”
The ADC stalwart also faulted the restriction of movement imposed during the polls, arguing that such measures undermine democratic participation.
He added, “A minister came out to say the president told him to shut down Abuja, to declare a curfew. That’s not an election. So are you going to declare a curfew in a nationwide election because people want to vote?
“People vote all over the world freely. They go about their businesses. I witnessed an election in Ghana, and nobody was disturbed. You’ll go and vote, and if you decide you want to monitor your vote, you stay there. Nobody will harass you. They’ll just tell you to keep some distance so we can see what we’re doing.
“Nigeria is going backwards under APC. It’s a shame, and APC needs to be ashamed of itself that we cannot conduct an election in one city in Abuja peacefully.
“People could not go to where they registered. Some people got there and could not find their names. And you’ll tell me it was a fantastic election? We shouldn’t do this to our country. It seems we hate our country so much that we just talk nonsense these days.”
