Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has said the 2027 polls will be different, stressing that votes will count and those who attempt to undermine the will of the people will be held accountable.
Obi made the declaration on Tuesday at the launch of a biography titled “Obi: The Political Change Agent, The Inevitability of a New Nigeria” written by veteran journalist Ike Abonyi.
Addressing his supporters, popularly known as the Obidient Movement, the former Anambra State governor urged them not to be discouraged by the events of the 2023 elections. He called for sustained mobilisation and vigilance across the country ahead of the next general election cycle.
“This time around, we will make sure that we are everywhere. We will vote, the votes will count, and those who think they will not count will be counted,” Obi said.
The Labour Party candidate expressed deep concern about the state of the nation, likening Nigeria to the Titanic. “When it was sinking, some people were on the upper deck celebrating. They didn’t know that it was going down until everybody sank,” he said.
Obi warned against complacency in the face of worsening insecurity and economic hardship, saying Nigerians were being displaced in their own land without the country being officially at war.
“Today in Nigeria, we’re not at war, but Nigerians are living as refugees. Some are even refugees in Cameroon. All this is happening because we do not have a people-oriented government,” he said.
He accused the ruling elite of being more interested in self-enrichment than in solving the country’s pressing problems.
“They make you president and all you want to do is renovate houses and conference centres, while people are dying and suffering,” he said. “You can’t continue to celebrate vanity in a land of hunger and pain.”
Obi urged citizens to resist the structure of injustice he says has held Nigeria back for decades. He maintained that unless this is addressed, the country risks further collapse.
“We must gang up to remove this because it is not sustainable. Nigeria cannot continue like this. A criminal enterprise is running the nation and we must dismantle it,” he said.
He encouraged members of his movement to return to their communities, spread awareness and strengthen grassroots mobilisation in preparation for what he described as a defining moment in 2027.
