The former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, has accused the Nigerian Senate of laying the foundation for electoral sabotage ahead of the 2027 elections.
Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), made the remark amid the Senate’s rejection of real-time mandatory electronic transmission of election result, describing the decision as an unforgivable act of electoral manipulation.
“This failure to pass a clear safeguard is nothing short of a deliberate assault on Nigeria’s democracy. By rejecting these essential transparency measures, they are eroding the very foundation of credible elections,” he said. “One must ask: Does the government exist to ensure order and justice, or to institutionalise chaos? Is its purpose to serve the people, or to fulfil the sinister ambitions of a select few?”
According to him, the turmoil, disputes, and manipulations that plagued past elections, especially the 2023 general election, stemmed directly from the refusal to fully implement electronic transmission of results.
“Nigerians were fed excuses of a fabricated ‘glitch’ that never existed. While numerous African nations adopt electronic transmission to bolster democracy, Nigeria, the supposed giant of Africa, shamelessly lags behind, dragging the continent backwards,” Obi said.
He decried the time wasted on hosting conferences and drafting papers on Nigeria’s problems, noting that the leaders and elite are the real issue. “Our deliberate resistance to reform is pulling the country backwards, dragging us toward a primitive state of governance.
“By rejecting mandatory electronic transmission — a critical safeguard for electoral integrity — we are entrenching disorder aimed at perpetuating confusion according to the whims of a small clique. Have we not reached a point where we must think seriously about the future of our country and our children? Should leadership not focus on building a credible, orderly, and livable nation for the next generation, rather than one permanently ensnared in chaos?”
He recalled the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, labeling Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt,” and the defensive reactions that followed, as well as the declaration by United States President Donald Trump describing Nigeria as a “disgraced country”, which disappointed many Nigerians.
“Yet, with every act of resistance against transparency and reform, we continue to affirm their claims. Those responsible will later point fingers at others for harming the country while they quietly suffocate its potential,” Obi noted.
He warned that “the criminality witnessed in 2023 will not be tolerated in 2027”, urging Nigerians to begin preparing to rise up, resist, reject the backward trajectory, and legitimately and decisively reclaim the country from the clutches of deliberate malevolence.
He also called on the international community to take note of “the groundwork for continued future electoral manipulation, endangering Nigeria’s democracy and development.”
