*Cautions Against Dismantling Democratic Gains In Nigeria
*Ask ECOWAS, AU, UN To intervene
Labour Party (LP) leader for Edo Central Senatorial District, Engr. Christen Omofoma, has lambasted the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission, for conducting a local council election “riddled with blatant disregard for equity and the rule of law.”
In a terse statement on Sunday, following Saturday’s poll, he described the exercise as “marked by fraud,” regretting that the election was an imitation of the “charade called the February 25 presidential election.”
He claimed that LP had clear leads in Areas such as Ward 9, in Esan Central, but the state electoral commission announced otherwise.
He further alleged that the party emerged victorious in some other polling units such as polling unit 9, ward 3, Okpoji, just as he said “it is the same situation in several places.
The Edo Central Senatorial leader who regretted that “the ASIEC has not lived up to the expectation of the people, cautioned against dismantling the gains so far made from the country’s democracy.”
Recall that earlier the LP national chairman, Julius Abure, also condemned the exercise, as he called on the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, to cancel the exercise and conduct a fresh one.
Omofoma said that Nigeria’s democracy is threatened “at all levels of our national life by the actions and activities of those who are supposed to champion it.”
He called on the international community, especially “ECOWAS, AU, UN to turn its search light on the conduct of politicians in Nigeria to safeguard whatever gains the nation has made in democracy.”
This is as he called on all stakeholders to join hands in “saving the growing trend of election fraud in the country.”
The 2023 Senatorial contestant for Edo Central further asked the state government to wade into the crisis to restore the confidence of the people in elections.