Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticized Saturday’s local government elections in Rivers State, denouncing the process as “an awful absurdity” and calling on opposition parties to reject the declared results. On Sunday, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) announced that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had won 20 of the 23 local government areas (LGAs), while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured victories in three—Obio-Akpor, Port Harcourt City (PHALGA), and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni (ONELGA). Notably, Governor Siminalayi Fubara lost his Opobo-Nkoro LGA to the APC. In a statement shared via his official X account, Atiku condemned the conduct of the polls, saying it posed a grave threat to Nigeria’s democratic system. “The local government election conducted by the occupation government in Rivers State is an awful absurdity and a travesty to the very notion of elective democracy,” he wrote. The former VP accused the APC of manipulating the process to gain undue political advantage. “By the shameful and shambolic manner in which the occupation government went ahead to conduct local government elections in Rivers State, it is clear that the ruling APC party is not leaving anyone in doubt that it is prepared to throw caution to the wind in order to achieve an inordinate political advantage,” Atiku said. The PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 general election further called on Nigerians and the international community to take note of the development. “It therefore becomes necessary to call the attention of well-meaning Nigerians, international community and all friends and partners of Nigeria to the dangerous curve that the President Bola Tinubu regime is taking our dear country,” he added. Atiku also urged opposition parties in Rivers to reject the results, insisting the election lacked legitimacy. “I will also call on all opposition parties in Rivers State to reject the local government election on the premise that the occupation government that conducted the exercise is extraneous to our laws, with absolutely no legitimacy to undertake such a crucial and sensitive assignment,” he said. He expressed solidarity with the people of Rivers State, describing them as victims of political brigandage. “In the same breath, I wish to share my unflinching solidarity with the good people of Rivers State, who are currently victims of political brigandry to a power cabal which is bent on overturning their democratic rights at all cost,” Atiku stated.