The Convener of the CountryFirst Movement, Prof. Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr., has strongly condemned the conduct of the August 16 bye-elections across 12 states, warning that Nigeria’s democracy is “under grave threat.”
Speaking from Houston, Texas, Prof. Nwaokobia said the elections, which covered 32 local government areas, 356 registration areas and 6,987 polling units involving over 3.5 million registered voters, were “largely flawed” and marred by irregularities.
“I woke up around 3am here in Houston to join part of The Morning Show on Arise TV, and stumbled on the Spokesperson of the APC, Mr. Felix Morka, laboriously toiling to excuse the huge larceny that defined the bye-elections,” he said.
According to him, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has “progressively shattered whatever was left of the credibility of the electoral process in Nigeria since 2015.” He argued that every successive election since then “has been worse than the former.”
“We thought that the 2023 electoral larceny was the height of it, but in the off-season elections that followed in Imo, Kogi, Edo, Ondo and elsewhere, INEC kept telling Nigerians, ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet,’” Nwaokobia said. “In the latest episode of electoral heist, INEC is saying to Nigerians, believe it or not, it’s not who votes that counts, it’s who counts the votes.”
The activist accused the APC and its sympathizers of celebrating electoral malpractice. He cited comments attributed to presidential aide Bayo Onanuga, who mocked the opposition after the polls. “He thought he was putting a slap in the face of the opposition by asking them ‘how market?,’ whereas he was indeed putting a long nail in the coffin of democracy,” Nwaokobia argued.
He further declared: “Yes, the APC has killed democracy in Nigeria. You kill democracy when you allow rigging and electoral larceny. You kill democracy when you stifle dissent. You kill democracy when you celebrate flawed polls. You kill democracy when you consistently lower the moral bars and margins that must attend the electoral process, and you kill democracy when you excuse electoral infraction and subterfuge.”
Prof. Nwaokobia insisted that the situation goes beyond partisan politics. “The challenge before us is certainly beyond politics or politricks. It is about the life and the soul of our nation. It is about the collective duty of retrieving this nation from the present slide under the most kamikaze gang of rampaging buccaneers and soulless power-mongers known to our history,” he said.
He also accused government officials of engaging in “wanton looting and budget padding,” citing multi-billion-naira allocations for projects he described as inflated or questionable. “One wants ₦712 billion to renovate a section of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, another wants ₦3.5 trillion to renovate the Third Mainland Bridge—a bridge that had ₦46 billion spent on it less than 14 months ago. No conscience, no soul, no scruples, and no fear of God,” he said.
According to him, while trillions are allocated for questionable projects, sectors like education and healthcare are neglected. “We have the most out-of-school children in the world, yet no trillions are budgeted for schools. We have very poor healthcare facilities, yet no trillions are thought necessary to build ultra-modern medical facilities in our universities,” he said.
He warned that Nigeria is fast sliding into a one-party state, adding: “Our civil rule is in great danger. We have in power people who rig elections and go to the Church and Mosque to give thanks depending on their religion. They rig elections and tell you to go to court.”
Calling for urgent action, he declared: “We must therefore forge a Pan-Nigerian force that will lift our nation out of the moral, economic, and socio-political nadir that defines today’s Nigeria. Rise up, folks, let’s get the job done, for the power of the people is greater and mightier than that of those in power.”
“God bless Nigeria,” he concluded.
