Martin Onovo, the presidential candidate of the now-defunct National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 general election, expressed skepticism about the possibility of free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria in 2027. expressed.
According to the Guardian, Onovo recently shared his concerns while commenting on the current state of affairs in the country, suggesting that Nigeria is moving away from practicing true democracy.
Onovo noted that what exists in Nigeria resembles a “maximum civilian dictatorship” rather than a true democratic system. He believes this seriously undermines the electoral process and undermines the democratic principles essential to credible elections.
Mr. Onovo particularly criticized the conduct of the 2024 Edo State gubernatorial election, calling it a “travesty” orchestrated by the ruling party to subvert the rule of law and undermine the integrity of the electoral process.
He argued that such actions set a precedent that could negatively impact future elections, including the expected 2027 general election.
Mr. Onovo said, “Please don’t call this an election. We don’t have democracy in Nigeria. The two pillars of democracy are the rule of law and the integrity of voting. Both are not present in Nigeria today. What we have is maximum civilian dictatorship.
“The current civilian dictatorship in Nigeria has orchestrated a farce and appointed the governor of Edo State. This was not a surprise as I was expecting a demonstration of the Edo state.
“After the ‘coup’ called the 2023 presidential election, we saw the farce in Imo and Kogi states. Now, we have seen it repeated in Edo state. It was a celebration of impunity.”
He said it was a mistake for the incumbent president to publicly declare that he would give Edo State to the All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that Tinubu has not yet been appointed by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure the result is in their favour. ) and the police, he added. .
“It is very clear: Jagaban Tinubu has publicly promised to ‘give’ Edo State to the All Progressives Congress (APC). He continued to do so with impunity. He claimed to have used the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police to “give away” Edo State to the APC.
He added that the INEC Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, who is Wike’s cousin and chamberlain to the Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), violated electoral rules.
He said the fraudulent results showed several more votes than certified voters in some precincts. The matching was hijacked and the agents of the participating parties were removed to allow the matching results to be criminally falsified.
“The collations were hijacked and agents of the participating parties were removed to enable criminal falsification of the results. Officers of the Nigeria Police Force violently threatened and arrested supporters of other parties.
“Other officers of the same Nigeria Police Force covered up the hijacking of collations and falsification of results. Most importantly, the declared results are not the genuine results published on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) “That’s not true,” he lamented.
