I’m Ready to Die Protecting My Votes in 2027,’ Peter Obi Vows

Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has vowed to protect his votes in the 2027 election, saying he is prepared to risk his life to defend the mandate.

Obi spoke on Thursday in Port Harcourt during a town hall meeting with voters tagged “Obi Talks Nigeria”.

The former Anambra State governor fielded questions on the 2027 election and the party’s preparations for the polls.

Obi contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), finishing third behind Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election, while Obi and his supporters have continued to allege that irregularities affected the poll.

Speaking in Port Harcourt, Obi urged Nigerians to prevent a repeat of what he described as voter intimidation and electoral irregularities.

He said the NDC was putting structures in place to ensure that voters freely exercise their rights at polling units.

“Nobody will intimidate us again at the polling booth,” Obi declared.

He argued that voters could resist intimidation through proper mobilisation and coordination.

“If you get to any polling booth today, the highest number of officials you see is five,” he said.

“The average number of voters is 40 to 50. There is no way five people will intimidate 50 people.”

Obi also declared that he was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice in defence of votes cast by Nigerians.

“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,” he said.

The NDC candidate said the party would establish effective coordination mechanisms across polling units.

He said the plan would help prevent intimidation and suppression during the election.

“We will make sure we have coordination to ensure that such intimidation does not arise,” Obi said.

He also expressed concern over possible attempts to manipulate election results through the Independent National Electoral Commission’s result viewing portal, IReV.

Obi said such attempts would face resistance, adding that the party would deploy additional technology to strengthen transparency in the transmission and collation of results.

“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.”

Obi warned that allowing technical problems to undermine the electoral process could have serious consequences for the country.

“By allowing them to continue, that glitch will glitch our lives. That is what we are suffering today,” he added.