The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised Senate President Godswill Akpabio over comments dismissing the opposition’s objections to the Electoral Act 2026 and claiming to have done the right thing.
While speaking during a reception for the wife of the President, Mrs. Remi Tinubu, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Saturday, Senator Akpabio said he is excited and knows he has made the right law when opposition parties complain.
However, reacting in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said the opposition does not complain for the sake of it, but because provisions have been introduced into the law that were designed to cripple other political parties, undermine the nation’s democracy, and lower the country’s standing in the eyes of the world.
The party said the Senate President should indeed expect the harsh judgment of history for his role in foisting the 2026 Electoral Act on Nigerians, especially the aspect of the law that removes certificate forgery as grounds for challenging election results, which would remain the enduring legacy of the ruling party.
It said the embedded logic of the statement exposed the subterfuge behind the entire business of the Electoral Amendment designed to make the ruling party and the President happy.
The ADC said amendments were made to laws in order to make them better in meeting national aspirations and advancing the collective best interests of citizens towards achieving a better society, stressing that “It is only in a rogue democracy, or more precisely, in a kakistocracy such as the one we are in today, that the legislature would sit down to make laws that actually lower society’s ethical standards.”
The statement read: “The African Democratic Congress has taken note of the recent comments credited to the Senate President, His Excellency Godswill Akpabio, in which he dismissed the opposition’s complaints about the 2026 Electoral Act as evidence that he and the Senate he leads have made the right laws. In other words, if the laws had been agreeable to the opposition and did not elicit any complaint, those would have been the wrong laws….
“How can any self-respecting person be happy with himself for presiding over the making of a law that now says the election of an individual can no longer be challenged on the grounds of certificate forgery as provided in Section 138 of the Electoral Act 2026, even though this is in direct contradiction to Sections 66, 107, 137, and 182 of the Constitution, which clearly disqualify anyone who has presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from holding public office?
“This amended legislation does not only create a troubling constitutional conflict, it also shows how far a desperate political party like the APC would go in bringing the country down to its level. It is difficult to imagine a more damaging message to send to Nigerians, particularly to our young people, than the suggestion that certificate forgery should no longer have serious consequences.
“What kind of lawmakers gather together to conceive, deliberate, and pass legislation that appears designed to protect dishonesty rather than punish it? Such actions do not only weaken our democracy; they lower the moral estimation of our country in the eyes of the world and reinforce the dangerous stereotype that corruption is acceptable in Nigerian public life.
“If Senator Akpabio wishes to concern himself with the activities of the opposition, that is his choice. But Nigerians will ultimately judge leaders not by their ridicule of the opposition, but by their record. And as it stands, the legacy of this National Assembly will be that of the most spineless and compromised legislature in Nigeria’s democratic history, a legislature that made a law which lowered the nation’s ethical standard just to serve the interest of one man.
“While Senator Akpabio can continue to mock the opposition as much as he likes, it is important to note that as a growing party and the choice of millions of Nigerians, the ADC remains focused on building a credible political alternative capable of restoring integrity, competence, and accountability to governance in our country.
“History is patient. And when the story of this period in Nigeria’s democratic journey is written, Nigerians will remember those who stood to defend the integrity of our democracy, and those who chose to weaken it.”
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