AMAECHI TAKES TO THE STREETS WITH SON AS SENATE, TINUBU GOVERNMENT STAND ACCUSED OF SABOTAGING DEMOCRACY OVER E-TRANSMISSION
Hassan Bala Reporting Live from Abuja...
Former Rivers State Governor and ex–Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has openly joined the swelling ranks of protesters in Abuja, condemning what many Nigerians now describe as the deliberate assault on democracy by the National Assembly under the watch of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The protests, which entered their second day on Tuesday, erupted in response to the Senate’s controversial rejection of mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results in the proposed amendment to the Electoral Act, a move widely viewed as a calculated attempt to preserve electoral manipulation.
Amaechi appeared at the protest ground alongside his son, a medical doctor, in a powerful symbolic gesture that underscored the gravity of the moment.
He disclosed that he brought his son along in anticipation of possible violence, a reflection of the increasingly hostile environment created by a government that appears intolerant of dissent.
According to Amaechi, leaders who truly believe in democracy must be willing to stand on the frontlines with their families, not hide behind state power while citizens face intimidation and repression.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has also issued a strong call to action, urging Nigerians and all opposition parties to rise up against what it termed a legislative coup against the people’s will.
The party insisted that silence in the face of this decision would amount to complicity in the erosion of Nigeria’s democratic future.
Amaechi did not mince words, accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of being terrified of free, fair, and transparent elections. He questioned how a party that boasts of mass defections from opposition figures could still be so desperate to block a simple technological safeguard meant to protect the integrity of the vote.
“Why is the APC afraid?” Amaechi queried, pointing out the hypocrisy of a ruling party that claims nationwide dominance yet resists electoral transparency at every turn.
He further warned that while Senate President Godswill Akpabio and President Bola Tinubu may choose to ignore the voices of Nigerians, the resistance would not fade.
Opposition parties, civil society groups, and pro-democracy advocates, he said, are prepared for a sustained struggle until the anti-democratic decision is overturned.
In a move critics describe as state intimidation, heavily armed operatives of the Nigeria Police Force barricaded key access roads leading to the National Assembly complex ahead of the Senate’s emergency plenary session effectively sealing off the people’s parliament from the people themselves.
For many Nigerians, the message from the Tinubu administration and the National Assembly is becoming increasingly clear: power must be protected at all costs, even if democracy is the casualty.
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