Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described the conducted Local Government elections in Rivers State on Saturday, August 30, 2025, as “an awful absurdity and a travesty to the very notion of elective democracy”.
Atiku, while condemning the election, said that it has become very clear that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is determined to discard democratic principles in pursuit of political advantage.
He specifically described the conduct of the exercise as extraneous to Nigeria’s legal framework and therefore null and void.
He also said that for the “occupation government’ in Rivers State to conduct the election without keeping to the provisions of the Electoral Act was shameful and shambolic. Atiku, who took to his X handle on Sunday, August 31, 2025, noted that the move signalled a dangerous trajectory for the country under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, and therefore tasked well-meaning Nigerians, the international community, and Nigeria’s partners to pay close attention to what he referred to as “a troubling curve” in the nation’s democracy.
The former Vice President therefore called on opposition parties in Rivers State to reject the Local Government elections, stressing that the process lacked legitimacy and violated the law.
While expressing solidarity with the people of Rivers State, Atiku decried what he described as “political brigandry” by a power cabal allegedly bent on subverting the democratic rights of citizens.
The of the election as announced by the recently constituted Rivers State Electoral Commission indicated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) won 20 of the 23 Local Government Areas, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won only three.
Atiku criticized the administration of President Bola Tinubu, saying that the APC was not leaving anyone in doubt that it is prepared to throw caution to the wind in order to achieve an inordinate political advantage.
He expressed solidarity with the people of Rivers State, who he noted are “currently victims of political brigandry to a power cabal which is bent on overturning their democratic rights at all cost”.
