Peter Obi Reveals Why Elections Are Rigged

The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has said elections in Nigeria are often manipulated because citizens fail to take ownership of the electoral process and protect their votes.

Naija News reports that Obi stated this during a recent visit to Washington, D.C., in a video that began trending on Saturday.

The former Anambra State governor said politicians alone could not guarantee credible elections unless voters were determined to defend their ballots.

Obi said electoral malpractice persists because many Nigerians do not stay back to monitor the counting of votes after casting their ballots.

“Elections are rigged in Nigeria because Nigerians want it to be rigged. It’s as simple as ABC. I will do whatever is possible to protect the votes, but unless Nigerians decide that their votes will count, it will not count,” he said.

He urged voters to remain at their polling units after voting and insist that their votes are counted transparently.

Obi said, “If you vote and you stay in your polling booth and say that the votes must be counted here, it will be counted, but because our politics is transactional, the average Nigerian doesn’t know who is his problem.

“So, an average Nigerian will vote and then go home or go to night vigil, whilst his night vigil should actually be to stay and let them count his votes. But he will vote and go to night vigil on Saturday and start praying because he thinks he is the only one that God created, that God will solve all his problems.”

Obi said Nigeria’s major challenge remained poor political leadership. He argued that the country had enough human and natural resources to succeed if it had the right leaders.

“The question you all should ask yourselves today is: what is the problem of Nigeria? Nigeria has only one problem, leadership. Political leadership. Every other thing God gave to Nigeria.

“I can tell you that Nigeria is more blessed than this country. So, if Nigerians know that their problem is leadership, they will address it and insist on getting good leadership. So everybody should be part of protecting that vote,” he added.

Obi stressed that safeguarding elections should not be left to politicians alone.

He said meaningful change would only come when citizens actively participate in defending their votes and demanding accountable leadership.