ADC: History Will Be Harsh to Akpabio, Certificate Forgery Will Be APC’s Legacy

Chuks Okocha in Abuja 

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.

Akpabio had while speaking during a reception for the wife of the President, Mrs. Remi Tinubu, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Saturday, said he was excited and knew he hadmade the right law when opposition parties complained.

However, reacting in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said the opposition did 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 expect the harsh judgment of history for his role in foisting the 2026 Electoral Act on Nigerians, especially the aspect of the law that removed certificate forgery as grounds for challenging election results, which would remain the enduring legacy of the ruling party.

The ADC said if the laws had been agreeable to the opposition and did not elicit any complaint, those would have been the wrong laws.

According to the party, ”The embedded logic of this statement exposes the subterfuge behind the entire business of the Electoral Amendment. It was all designed to make the ruling party and the President happy.

”Amendments are 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. 

“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.

”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.”