Former presidential candidate Peter Obi has said the conduct of the Rivers State Local Government election is a mockery of democracy and rascality taken too far.

"It represents a double tragedy for our democracy when a Sole Administrator - himself illegally appointed - dares to conduct an election that should empower the people. This is not democracy; it is the outright desecration of its very foundation," Obi said in a statement on Sunday.

According to him, such actions are unconstitutional, legally untenable, and morally indefensible. "They send a dangerous message that the rule of law can be discarded at the whim of those in power. But the truth remains unshaken: illegality can never give birth to legitimacy. Any structure erected on a foundation of lawlessness is a danger to both the state and the people," he said.

Obi further stated that Nigeria cannot afford to continue on this perilous path, pretending to practise democracy while silencing the will of the people - especially at the grassroots, where democracy matters most.

"If we truly seek progress, we must uphold the sanctity of the ballot, safeguard the people’s right to choose, and insist that leadership at every level flows from their mandate - not from contraptions that mock democracy. Only then will governance have meaning, and only then can the sacred bond of trust between leaders and the people be restored," he said.

ASA