The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Sunday raised the alarm on alleged plans by unnamed individuals to rig the 2023 elections.
Wike, who addressed the congregation during an interdenominational church service put together by the state government as part of activities marking the nation’s independence anniversary at the Saint Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in Diobu, Port Harcourt, raised concerns on the credibility of future elections because of the National Assembly’s rejection of electronic transmission of results in the country.
He said: “Other countries are talking about how their elections will be transparent, we are talking about how we will plot to rig an election in 2023.
“Transmit a result electronically to show the transparency, to show that really the person you are declaring won the election is the problem.
I thought by now, we should be talking about how this country will be competing with other developed nations.”
He also knocked the National Assembly for failing to check the excessive borrowing by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The governor added: “What are we celebrating about 61 years old? We have a congress where anything goes. Where is the legislature? A legislature that cannot speak, a legislature where anything they bring is right?
“A legislature that cannot say that Nigeria has gotten to the age of conducting a free and fair election, a legislature that will close your eye anytime they bring money, borrow you borrow.
“Where are the courts? The courts have been intimidated; the judges have abandoned their responsibilities out of fear of what will happen.”