Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has declared that he is ready to lose his life while protecting his votes in the 2027 election.
Speaking at a town hall meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, on Thursday, Obi charged Nigerians to prevent a repeat of the “irregularities” witnessed during the 2023 general election.
In 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to upload election results electronically due to the alleged failure of IReV.
Critics had accused the commission of hiding under the alleged failure of IReV to rig the election against the opposition.
Obi, who ran under Labour Party, and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar who was candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had rejected the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as winner of the election and headed to the court.
But Tinubu’s election victory was upheld by the court.
Speaking at the event tagged: “Obi Talks Nigeria”, the NDC Presidential Candidate said those plotting to manipulate the election would fail in their mission.
He urged his supporters to go all out and exercise their franchise on election day, saying no one would intimidate them or prevent 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.
On his part, NDC Vice Presidential Candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, appealed to voters to avoid past mistakes of not choosing competent leaders with the capacity to address the country’s challenges.
He said despite the number of states that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) currently controls, 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.
