Updated: Peter Obi, Tanko, others join protesters at National Assembly

Former Labour Party presidential flagbeaer, Peter Obi, joined protesters at the National Assembly in Abuja to demand the approval of real-time electronic transmission of election results from polling units.

The former presidential candidate was joined by supporters, including Dr Yunusa Tanko, as they gathered at the entrance of the parliamentary complex to press lawmakers on the Electoral Amendment Bill under consideration.

Chanting slogans and carrying placards reading “Our votes must count,” “No to electoral robbery,” and “Protect democracy now,” protesters marched from the Federal Secretariat toward the National Assembly. Heavy security deployment—including police, army, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps—barricaded the main entrance, forcing the demonstrators to hold their protest outside the complex.

Addressing journalists at the protest ground, Obi condemned what he described as the steady erosion of democratic gains in the country, emphasising that credible elections are vital for national stability and development.

“We must dismantle this criminality and prove that we are now a nation that shows light in Africa,” Obi said.
“The danger was clear. We have suffered the danger. That’s what we have suffered before. We don’t want any glitch again. This is finished. We want things to come back to normal. No more glitch.”

Obi called on the National Assembly to enact laws mandating real-time electronic transmission of election results, a move he said was necessary to prevent interference during result collation.

The National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, said the agitation would continue until the National Assembly explicitly restores real-time transmission in the amended law.

“If there is no electronic transmission of results, there will be no election. Our elections must be credible,” Tanko warned.

He noted that past elections suffered manual interference, a problem reforms introduced after the 2011 and 2015 polls were meant to address. Civil society groups and activists, including Randy Peters, emphasised that demonstrators would return until their demands are met.

“Tomorrow, we will be back here until the Senate does the right thing. In 2027, our votes must count. The most important thing is that our votes must count,” Peters said, invoking the spirit of the June 12, 1993 election.

The protests come amid ongoing debates over Nigeria’s electoral reforms, which gained momentum after the flawed 2007 elections. The introduction of card readers in 2015 and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in 2022 were hailed as significant steps toward transparency, though implementation challenges persist.