Don’t expect free, fair, credible election in 2027 — Onovo

The presidential candidate of the defunct National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 general elections, Chief (Engr.) Martin Onovo, has warned Nigerians to jettison their expectation of a free, fair, and credible election in 2027.

Commenting on the state of the nation recently, Onovo hinged his submission on the fact that Nigeria is not practising true democracy, but a maximum civilian dictatorship system of government.

He described the 2024 gubernatorial election in Edo State as a mere charade set up by the ruling party to undermine the rule of law and integrity of the ballot.

“Do not call that an election. There is no democracy in Nigeria. The two pillars of democracy are the rule of law and the integrity of the ballot. Both are absent in Nigeria presently. What we have now is a maximum civilian dictatorship.

“The current civilian dictatorship in Nigeria arranged a charade and appointed a governor for Edo State. It was not a surprise to us because we know the undemocratic ‘Emi lo kan’ modus operandi of the current civilian dictatorship in Nigeria, and we expected the Edo State charade.

“After the ‘coup d’etat’ nicknamed presidential elections in 2023, we saw the Imo State and Kogi State charades. Now, we have seen it repeated in Edo State. It was a celebration of criminal brigandage and impunity,” he said.

He said it was wrong for the sitting president to publicly declare that he would give Edo State to the All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that Tinubu used the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police to ensure the result swung in their favour.

“Very clearly; Jagaban Tinubu publicly promised to “give” Edo State to the All Progressives Congress (APC). He proceeded to do so with impunity. He used the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police to “give” Edo State to his APC,” he alleged.

He added that INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Wike’s cousin and acolyte as Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), violated the rules of the election.

According to him, the fraudulent results showed several votes higher than the number of accredited voters in some constituencies. Collation was hijacked, and agents of participating parties were excluded to allow the criminal forgery of results.

“Collation was hijacked, and agents of participating parties were excluded to allow the criminal forgery of results. Officers of the Nigeria Police were viciously intimidating and arresting supporters of other parties.

“Other officers of the same Nigeria Police provided cover for the hijack of collation and forgery of results. Most importantly, the declared results are different from the authentic results published on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV). What imbecility,” he lamented.