By George Mgbeleke<\/p>\n
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) views with grave concern the recent declaration by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, that he is \u201cin charge\u201d of the political structures in Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory and is certain of delivering both territories to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.<\/p>\n
Wike reportedly made the declaration during a media chat with selected journalists in Abuja, where he described himself as the \u201cgeneral commander\u201d of the political structure in Rivers State and asserted that he is equally in charge in the FCT.<\/p>\n
He was quoted as saying:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is certain that I will deliver two states, FCT and Rivers for Tinubu. You don\u2019t need a governor to be in charge. I\u2019m the general commander of the political structure in Rivers. In Rivers, I\u2019m in charge. So also the FCT.\u201d<\/p>\n
For HURIWA, this statement is not one that should be dismissed as ordinary political rhetoric. It raises fundamental questions about the integrity, neutrality and credibility of the electoral process ahead of the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n
What exactly does this mean?<\/p>\n
Is INEC a stooge of the FCT Minister?<\/p>\n
How can a political actor express such extraordinary confidence about the outcome of an election that is yet to be conducted?<\/p>\n
Is the FCT Minister merely expressing political ambition, or does he possess information that Nigerians do not have about the expected outcome of the 2027 presidential election?<\/p>\n
These are legitimate questions that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must address.<\/p>\n
HURIWA believes that the credibility of any election does not begin on election day. It begins with public confidence in the neutrality and independence of the electoral umpire and the certainty that no individual, political office holder or political structure has the capacity to predetermine the outcome.<\/p>\n
Wike\u2019s declaration that he is certain of delivering Rivers State and the FCT to President Tinubu is therefore provocative and insensitive, particularly in a country where Nigerians have repeatedly demanded stronger safeguards against electoral manipulation, political interference and abuse of state institutions.<\/p>\n
INEC has a lot of work to do to clearly prove to Nigerians that the 2027 presidential election is not already negotiated and settled somewhere outside the ballot box.<\/p>\n
The electoral commission must understand that statements of this nature can deepen public suspicion and undermine confidence in the electoral process.<\/p>\n
HURIWA therefore calls on INEC to urgently introduce and publicise additional confidence-building measures capable of reassuring Nigerians that the 2027 elections will be conducted transparently, independently and without interference from political actors.<\/p>\n
The commission must demonstrate, through concrete actions and not mere assurances, that no minister, governor, political party leader or influential political actor has the power to determine the outcome of an election before Nigerians cast their votes.<\/p>\n
The FCT Minister is entitled to mobilise political support for his preferred candidate. He is entitled to campaign and deploy his political influence within the limits of the law. However, publicly declaring that he is certain of delivering specific territories to a presidential candidate before the election takes place creates an uncomfortable perception that demands clarification.<\/p>\n
HURIWA consequently challenges INEC to rise to this occasion and reassure Nigerians that every vote in 2027 will count and that the outcome will be determined by the voters, not by political \u201ccommanders\u201d or backroom arrangements.<\/p>\n
Nigeria cannot afford another electoral process shrouded in suspicion.<\/p>\n
The 2027 elections must be free, fair, transparent, credible and demonstrably independent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) views with grave concern the recent declaration by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, that he is \u201cin charge\u201d of the political structures in Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory and is certain of delivering both territories to President Bola […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17398,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17397\/revisions\/17398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}