2nd September 2025, NewsOrient, Opinion, Column, Politics, Governance And Development, News
By John Chukwu ANYIM

A Democracy in Shackles

What happened in Rivers State under the guise of “local government elections” is not democracy, it is an insult to it. Once again, the people were denied the power to choose their grassroots leaders. Instead, we witnessed a crude display of political manipulation, where the outcome was already known before the first ballot was cast.

The so-called elections were nothing but a coronation of pre-selected loyalists. The ballot was reduced to a decoration, the people to spectators, and democracy to a theatre of mockery.

The Overbearing Shadow of Wike

At the center of this charade stands one man, Nyesom Wike. Though no longer the governor, Wike behaves as though Rivers State is his personal estate. His influence is suffocating, his handprints everywhere.

Instead of allowing democracy to breathe, he has turned the local government system into an extension of his power base. Candidates are not chosen by the people but by their loyalty to him. Councils are not designed to serve communities but to serve his interest. What we are witnessing is not governance, it is feudalism in democratic robes.

The Wine Politics of Rivers

As if to add salt to injury, inducement once again played a shameful role in this charade. Ordinary citizens were lured with bottles of wine, rice, and small sums of cash, as though their future could be bought cheaply.

But here is the bitter truth: once the wine bottles run dry, poverty, unemployment, and insecurity return with full force. The “politics of wine” is nothing more than a cruel hangover, a temporary intoxication that leaves the people weaker than before. Rivers people must reject this insult to their dignity.

The Historic Pattern of ‘Total Victory’

This travesty is not new. It has become the political tradition of Rivers State under Wike.

2015: Barely weeks after assuming office, Wike staged local government elections where his party, the PDP, swept all seats. Opposition voices cried foul, but no one listened.

2018: Once again, PDP under Wike “won” all 23 chairmanships and 355 councillorship seats. The outcome was predetermined; the process was a sham.

2021: History repeated itself. Despite widespread calls for reforms, RSIEC delivered yet another total sweep for Wike’s party. It was not an election but a rubber-stamp exercise.

This weekend was simply a replay of the same script, an endless cycle of arranged elections, where the people’s votes are rendered meaningless.

The Injustice Against Governor Fubara

But the biggest victim of this charade is not just the Rivers electorate, it is Governor Siminalayi Fubara himself.

From the very day he was sworn in, Fubara has been treated like a tenant in his own government. Instead of being allowed to chart his course, he has faced relentless sabotage. The “arrangee” local government elections were deliberately designed to weaken him, planting Wike’s loyalists in all the grassroots structures.

This is political treachery. A sitting governor, elected by the people, should never be undermined in this way. By denying him a loyal grassroots base, Wike has attempted to reduce Fubara into a puppet, forced to govern without genuine authority. It is an injustice not just to him, but to every Rivers man, woman, and youth who voted for him in good faith.

Let it be clear: to sabotage a governor is to sabotage the people who elected him. To deny Fubara control of his councils is to deny Rivers State the development it desperately needs. This is not politics as usual, it is a hostile takeover of democracy.

A State Government in Complicity

The machinery of the state, the so-called Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), security operatives, and public resources, has been weaponized to serve Wike’s agenda. These institutions, instead of protecting democracy, have become tools of oppression.

When the organs of state collude with one man to strangle democracy, then Rivers is not under normal governance, it is under a state of emergency in disguise.

The Democratic Crisis We Face

Local governments are meant to be engines of grassroots development. They should provide primary healthcare, build rural roads, maintain schools, and empower local farmers. But when councils are hijacked, all these functions die.

What we see instead are councils serving as cash-out points for political godfathers. Development stalls, poverty deepens, and insecurity festers. The Rivers people are left stranded, with no true representatives at the grassroots level.

This is the price of “arrangee elections” a people robbed of their voice, their future mortgaged to the ambition of one man.

Why We Need a Strict Electoral System

The tragedy in Rivers is a symptom of Nigeria’s wider democratic illness. So long as state governors control electoral commissions, local elections will remain meaningless.

We must demand:

1. Abolition of State Electoral Commissions, They have become appendages of governors.
2. INEC Takeover, Local government elections must be conducted by INEC, under strict national oversight.
3. Legal Penalties for Manipulation, Politicians and officials found guilty of hijacking local polls must face criminal prosecution.
4. Civic Reawakening, The people must reject inducements. A vote exchanged for wine is a mortgage of the future.

Without these reforms, Rivers and Nigeria will remain trapped in sham elections and grassroots underdevelopment.

Justice for Fubara is Justice for Rivers

This battle is bigger than Fubara; it is about justice itself. Yet we must not ignore the injustice done to him. How can a governor be elected by millions, only to be treated as though his mandate belongs to his predecessor?

Fubara’s struggle is the people’s struggle. If he is silenced, it means the people’s voice is silenced. If his authority is undermined, it means the people’s mandate is undermined. To stand with Fubara is to stand with democracy itself.

Rivers People, Reclaim Your Voice

Rivers people must wake up. Silence is no longer an option. Every stolen election mortgages your children’s future. Every imposed chairman is an obstacle to development. Every bottle of wine accepted for your vote is a betrayal of your dignity.

Rivers does not belong to one man. It does not belong to a political godfather. It belongs to its people.

~ Published By NewsOrient Network

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