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, insisting that the statement was a call for electoral responsibility rather than an invitation to anarchy.
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Umeh said Obi’s remarks should be understood as a warning to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other actors in the electoral process to ensure that votes cast by Nigerians are accurately counted, recorded, collated and reflected in the final results.
Obi had, during a town hall meeting in Port Harcourt, declared that Nigerians would insist on the sanctity of their votes in 2027.
“Our votes this time must count, and whoever doesn’t count it, we will count the person,” Obi was quoted as saying.
The comment generated debate over whether the former presidential candidate’s choice of words could be interpreted as threatening or capable of encouraging unrest.
But speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, Umeh rejected that interpretation, saying there was nothing extreme or inciting about demanding that the electoral authorities respect the choices made by voters.
“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 the senator, the underlying message was that the electoral process must be transparent enough to remove doubts about the authenticity of declared results.
“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.
Umeh described Obi’s statement 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 said Nigerians also have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the electoral process by paying attention to what happens from accreditation and voting through sorting, counting, recording and collation.
“So, whether he says the people will count the votes or we count them, it 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 maintained that the surest way to avoid tension after an election was for electoral authorities to conduct a process that commands public confidence.
“If you want to prevent anarchy, the best way to go about it is by doing what is right,” he said.
Umeh further argued that available electoral technology, properly deployed alongside transparent accreditation, voting, sorting, counting and collation procedures, should make it possible for declared results to correspond with votes actually cast.
“There will be no anarchy,” he said.
He maintained that where post-election unrest follows disputed results, attention should be focused on any manipulation of the electoral process rather than on citizens demanding that their votes be respected.
“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.
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