By Our Correspondent
The senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Victor Umeh, has defended Peter Obi’s warning that Nigerians would resist attempts to manipulate their votes in the 2027 general election, describing the statement as a “call to duty” rather than a threat of anarchy.
Obi had recently warned that Nigerians would no longer tolerate attempts to undermine their votes in the 2027 general election, insisting that their votes must be counted and their choices respected.
“Our votes this time must count, and whoever doesn’t count it, we will count the person,” the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) said at a town hall meeting in Port Harcourt.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday, Umeh said Obi’s comment was neither extreme nor inciting, arguing that it reflected the expectations of Nigerian voters ahead of the 2027 elections.
Umeh said Obi’s warning should instead be understood as a call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other stakeholders to ensure that the outcome of the election accurately reflects the will of the electorate.
“I think the statement he made is not extreme. It is not inciting in any form. He merely stated what the Nigerian electorate will be expecting in 2027,” Umeh said.
According to him, there would be little room for doubt or unrest if the electoral process was transparent and the votes were properly counted and collated.
“There will be no room for fraud or manipulation of election results. If taken further, it is a call on the electoral umpire to ensure that what will come out of that process will be genuine and real,” he said.
The lawmaker stated that Obi’s statement should be seen as “a call to patriotic duty to the electoral commission to ensure that they don’t create a situation where people will doubt the results they will declare.”
He further urged Nigerians to protect the integrity of the ballot by ensuring that votes cast at polling units were properly counted, recorded and transmitted through the prescribed electoral process.
“So, whether he says the people will count the votes or we count them is a call to duty and awakening the consciousness of everybody to help to protect the sanctity of the ballot box,” Umeh said.
The lawmaker argued that conducting a credible election remained the most effective way to prevent post-election tension, saying, “if you want to prevent anarchy, the best way to go about it is by doing what is right.”
Umeh added that the deployment of electoral technology and proper accreditation, voting, sorting, counting and collation should ensure that the declared results correspond with the votes cast by Nigerians.
“There will be no anarchy,” he said, stressing that any unrest resulting from disputed election results would be caused by manipulation of the process rather than Obi’s warning.
“When you manipulate and give false results, you are the one inviting the anarchy, not Peter Obi, who is saying that the right thing should be done,” Umeh said.
