Ace journalist and former presidential aide, Reuben Abati has condemned Saturday’s gubernatorial poll in Lagos, and berated the electoral commission and the security agencies for turning Nigeria into the “comedy station of the world” by their conduct during the election.
The Arise TV journalist, whose colleagues got manhandled by thugs during the election, spoke in a tweet.
Videos and photos circulating on the internet indicated that electoral brigandage characterised by attacks on voters and other acts of voter suppression occurred during the polls.
Ahead of the polls, loyalists of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), including the controversial MC Oluomo, threatened voters from a particular section of the country, not to vote against the APC or risk consequences.
Although MC Oluomo later recanted, video evidence suggests thugs scared off non-indigenes of Lagos from voting in some areas.
Reacting, Abati said, “What just happened in Nigeria? An election or a burlesque?
“Even masquerades voted. Touts and thugs replaced the Electoral Commission and took charge. Shame on INEC and the security agencies for turning our country into a comedy station of the world.”