ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Senator Victor Umeh has defended Peter Obi’s warning that Nigerians would resist attempts to manipulate their votes in the 2027 general election, saying the statement should be understood as a call for credible polls rather than an invitation to anarchy.
Umeh, who represents Anambra Central Senatorial District, said the responsibility for preventing electoral tension rested with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and other stakeholders to ensure that votes cast by Nigerians were properly counted and reflected in the final results.
He spoke on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday.
Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, (NDC), had recently warned that Nigerians would no longer tolerate attempts to undermine their votes, insisting that their choices must be respected.
“Our votes this time must count, and whoever doesn’t count it, we will count the person,” Obi said at a town hall meeting in Port Harcourt.
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But Umeh said the statement had been misinterpreted, arguing that it was not extreme or inciting but reflected the expectations of voters ahead of the election.
“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,” the senator said.
According to him, the most effective way to prevent post-election tension was to ensure that the electoral process was transparent and that the results declared by INEC corresponded with the votes cast.
He said the warning should therefore be viewed as a reminder to the electoral umpire and other stakeholders of their responsibility to protect the integrity of the ballot.
“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,” Umeh said.
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The senator said Obi’s position was not a call for citizens to take the law into their own hands, but an appeal for Nigerians to remain vigilant and ensure that their votes were properly counted, recorded and transmitted through the prescribed electoral process.
He described it 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.”
Umeh also urged voters to take an active role in protecting the sanctity of the ballot box, stressing that the credibility of an election depended not only on the voting process but also on the accuracy of the results eventually declared.
“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,” he said.
The lawmaker further argued that the deployment of electoral technology, proper accreditation, voting, sorting, counting and collation should ensure that the outcome of the election reflected the will of the electorate.
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He said any attempt to manipulate the process would be more likely to create tension than a warning that votes must count.
“If you want to prevent anarchy, the best way to go about it is by doing what is right,” Umeh said.
He added that there would be no reason for unrest if the electoral process was transparent and the results were credible.
“There will be no anarchy,” he said.
Umeh maintained that any unrest arising from disputed election results would be the consequence of manipulation 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,” he said.