Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), says he is prepared to lose his life defending his vote in the 2027 election.
He told a town hall meeting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Thursday that Nigerians must not let the irregularities of the 2023 general election happen again.
Back then the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) never uploaded the results electronically. The commission blamed a failure in the IReV system. Critics insisted INEC had simply used that supposed breakdown as cover to rig the vote against the opposition.
Obi, who ran on the Labour Party ticket in 2023, and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party both rejected the declaration of Bola Tinubu as winner. They took the case to court. The court upheld Tinubu’s victory anyway.
At the event, which was tagged “Obi Talks Nigeria,” the NDC candidate said anyone planning to manipulate the next election would fail. He told his supporters to turn out and cast their ballots without fear. No one, he said, would intimidate them or block their votes from counting.
“Nobody will intimidate us again at the polling booth. If you get to any polling booth today, the highest number of officials you see is five. The average number of voters is 40 to 50. There is no way five people will intimidate 50 people.”
“This time all of us will rescue our country. Somebody said, ‘We are ready to die.’ Let me tell you, I’m ready to die too.
“We will make sure we have coordination to ensure that such intimidation does not arise. Yes, they will try to manipulate the IReV. But let me tell you, it will not be easy this time,” he said.
“There will be so many IReVs this time. If there is a network glitch, we will give them another one that has no glitch,” he said.
“By allowing them to continue, that glitch will glitch our lives. That is what we are suffering today,” Obi said.
Rabiu Kwankwaso, the NDC vice-presidential candidate, warned voters not to repeat the old mistake of choosing leaders who lack the ability to tackle the country’s problems. He argued that even though the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) controls many states right now, the party will still lose the next election.
“I believe that Nigerians must not make mistakes again. This is the time to get it right. And anything to the contrary, I believe people, if they make a mistake, certainly people will regret making that mistake. Because it will be too costly for the people and the country.”
“Jonathan was the president, the sitting president lost the election. I’ve given you an example, especially those who think because they have over 30 governors, they cannot lose the election. That was a very big mistake,” he said.
