Abdullahi Sarki
A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, Kenneth Okonkwo, has condemned President Bola Tinubu over his recent defence of the Independent National Electoral Commission, arguing that the electoral umpire has failed to earn public trust.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Okonkwo responded to Tinubu’s assertion that INEC remained neutral despite widespread criticisms from opposition parties.
The ADC stalwart accused the President of acting as the commission’s chief defender rather than addressing genuine concerns about its credibility and performance during the 2023 elections.
“It is very sad. Any country that has a president who has morphed into the chief spokesperson of INEC is in trouble,” Okonkwo said.
He questioned the President’s assertion that the electoral umpire was impartial, insisting that unresolved issues from the 2023 general election continued to cast doubt on the commission’s neutrality.
“You can imagine President Tinubu telling the whole world that INEC is neutral. The same Tinubu who, during the 2015 campaign, said they would form a parallel government if INEC rigged the election.
“The same people who were once critical of INEC are now saying INEC is neutral. An INEC that recorded a technical glitch in 2023 and has not satisfactorily explained it to Nigerians cannot simply be declared neutral.
We are urging INEC to be neutral; as of today, it is not,” he said.
Okonkwo, who is also a spokesperson for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election, argued that Tinubu’s performance in office would make it difficult for him to secure a second term.
According to him, the President should step aside rather than seek re-election.
“Tinubu should not even allow the election to hold; he should resign and go in peace,” he said.
The former Labour Party presidential campaign spokesman also commented on the recent Court of Appeal judgment that overturned an earlier ruling directing INEC to deregister the ADC and four other political parties.
He claimed the party had successfully resisted attempts to remove it from Nigeria’s political landscape through the courts.
“I had boasted that ADC does not have any legal challenge because we know the only challenge it has is the APC trying to use some instruments in the judiciary to litigate us out of existence. We resisted them, and they are failing and falling like a pack of cards,” he said.
Okonkwo further accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of orchestrating a calculated campaign to weaken opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He alleged that the APC was leveraging various instruments, including the judiciary, to undermine Nigeria’s democratic process and litigate rival parties out of existence.
