During his official defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Enugu on Wednesday, former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi issued a stern warning against electoral malpractice ahead of the 2027 elections.
Speaking to a gathering of supporters at Nike Lake Hotel, Obi emphasised the need to protect Nigeria’s democracy and uphold the rule of law.
He said, “Today is an important day. Today is the last day of 2025. So we are ending this year with a hope that in 2026 we will begin a journey of rescue of our country, for proper socio-economic development that will be unifying and inclusive.
“We have all watched those who benefited from our democracy sometimes now become accessories to destroying our democracy. Either through coercion and gangsterism against the opposition. We cannot allow this to happen. We will resist it. We have now seen people who benefited from our democracy be part of celebrating electoral fraud publicly.
“We are saying that those who are planning to rig an election in Nigeria come 2027, we will resist it by every means lawful and legitimate. This happened because we have weak institutions like INEC.”
Obi also called for strict pre-election verification of candidates’ educational qualifications to prevent post-election disputes.
He said, “We are urging them (INEC) in the coming election, we must do whatever it is to follow the rules and the regulation, starting by educational qualification for eligibility to come and sit for any election. We can no longer be where they are asking whether this person went to school or not. We have one year now to determine who went to school and who didn’t go to school. We have one year now for people to tell us the school they attended and when they left the school. We don’t want it to be something we go to court after election and they say it’s pre-election matter. We have pre-election situation now to verify everybody who wants to contest the election in Nigeria. And we must follow that. Our commitment is about Nigeria.”
Melissa Enoch
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