Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has defended the conduct of local government elections in Rivers State, insisting they were held under constitutional provisions guiding emergency rule.
Speaking at a media chat on Monday ,September 1, in Abuja, Wike dismissed criticisms from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi, accusing them of political mischief and poor understanding of the law.
“Under emergency rule, certain aspects of the law are suspended to allow governance. The sole administrators act on behalf of the President and funds are made available in line with Supreme Court pronouncements,” Wike explained.
He argued that Atiku had no legal standing to fault the elections, stressing that amendments to emergency powers had been signed into law by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004.
“What you don’t know, don’t comment about. This is law, not customs. Atiku does not have the knowledge,” Wike said.
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Reacting to Obi’s description of the exercise as “rascality,” Wike dismissed the remark with sharp criticism.
He said, “Who can be more rascal than Obi? As governor for eight years, he only conducted an election two months before leaving office. Doctors were on strike for 13 months under him. He has no moral authority to lecture anyone on democracy.”
On claims that the results reflected an alliance between the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress, Wike brushed off the suggestion.
“Every election has its peculiarity. What matters is that, for the first time in our history, we saw peaceful elections—no gunshots, no hijacking of ballot boxes, no kidnapping of returning officers.
“If APC and PDP worked together in Rivers, then Nigerians should commend us for achieving that,” he said.