Electoral Fraud Will Affect Nigeria’s Growth- Peter Obi

By Uche Mbah

The former governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, has said that no nation can grow on rigged elections.

Obi is currently the Vice Presidential Candidate of the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. According to INEC announcement, the party lost to the ruling party, the All Progressive Party, APC. But PDP has since gone to court to challenge the results, alleging that the election was fraught with rigging of monumental proportions.

According to Obi, the process through which people come into office is far more important than what they do thereafter. He noted that the process of elections forms the basis of integrity of every politician.

“(Election rigging) is the root of corruption, as it goes to impact negatively on the political and economic growth of a country”, noting that the “fraud” that characterized this year’s election has greatly undermined the country’s democracy and it’s future. A it it according to him, it “has also significantly damaged the ongoing fight against corruption and tainted the integrity of those behind the rigging.”

Obi said this through his media office in Abuja

“The only thing rigging does to a country is that it continues to keep incompetent people in office, and as a result, rather than put energy in creating jobs to engage it’s teeming youths, it instead channels it trying to contain all sorts of vices and brigandage’, he said. According to him, election rigging encourages incompetent persons to hang on in office and cause more harm to the society.

His main concern and worry, according to him, is to create jobs and engage millions of Nigerian youths roaming the streets doing nothing at their prime productive ages

The presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has been under tremendous pressure to jettison the court cases, but he appears adamant to reclaim his mandate, this Magazine has learnt.