The Labour Party (LP) has alleged that Saturday’s bye-election witnessed large-scale of rigging, brazen vote-buying and violence, calling on President Bola Tinubu to caution his supporters.
The party described the election as “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.”
In a statement Sunday by senior special adviser, Media, to the interim national chairman, Ken Asogwa, the party identified APC agents, INEC officials, and security agents detailed to ensure a smooth election process as masterminds of the “shameful acts that desecrated our electoral space.”
The statement said INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has failed to redeem its image even after its performance in the 2023 elections where it displayed “brazen electoral heist that robbed the Labour Party and the Nigerian people of their mandate.”
It urged President Tinubu to call his sympathisers to order, adding that “history will be 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.
“What transpired across Nigeria on Saturday in the name of bye-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.”