Posted by Chinenye on Fri 04th Sep, 2026 - tori.ng
Peter Obi is raising the stakes ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 election, warning that the events of 2023 must not happen again.
(NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi. Photo by News Express)
Peter Obi, the Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, has declared his willingness to die protecting votes in the 2027 election, urging Nigerians to prevent a repeat of the irregularities that marred the 2023 general election.
Speaking at a town hall gathering in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday, Obi charged supporters to remain vigilant and ensure their votes count this time around.
Obi referenced the 2023 election when the Independent National Electoral Commission failed to upload results electronically, citing alleged failures in the IReV system.
Critics had accused the commission of using the system failure as cover to manipulate results against opposition candidates.
Obi himself, who ran under the Labour Party alongside former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, rejected Tinubu's victory and challenged it in court, though the court upheld the result.
The NDC candidate expressed confidence that those planning to manipulate the 2027 election would fail.
He urged his supporters to exercise their voting rights fearlessly, saying no one would intimidate them at the polling stations.
He highlighted a practical reality: polling booths typically have around five officials managing between forty to fifty voters, making intimidation impossible if voters stand united.
Obi stressed that coordination among supporters would prevent the manipulation tactics witnessed in 2023.
While acknowledging that officials might attempt to tamper with the IReV again, he warned that such network glitches would "glitch their lives" if left unchecked this time
. He noted that having multiple IReV systems in place would ensure that technical failures could be quickly remedied, preventing the kind of chaos that occurred previously.
NDC Vice Presidential Candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso appealed to voters to make the right choice this time, arguing that Nigerians must select competent leaders capable of addressing the country's challenges.
He warned that repeating past mistakes would be costly for the nation.
He reminded voters that sitting President Goodluck Jonathan lost his reelection bid, disproving claims that controlling over thirty states guarantees electoral victory.
The ruling APC, despite its current control of numerous states, would still lose in 2027, Kwankwaso predicted.