2027: “If you rig our votes, we will kill you” is a threat INEC chair, others must take seriously

Anyone conversant with the way leaders have taken the people for granted over the years without consequence in Nigeria is likely to dismiss with a wave of hand, the current threat to kill anyone that rigs or tries to rig 2027 Elections.

One thing must be noted here, such a reckless and explosive threat can only be issued by a frustrated and angry group of citizens who have endured to their very limits and are now ready to fight with all they have left.

For some reasons, I did not hear the news the very first time the people reportedly began to issue the alleged threat publicly.

But if you have diligently put your ears on the ground across the country, you will agree that this sentiment is not really new.

Since the controversial INEC’s glitch of 2023 Elections, some common Nigerians, especially those who did not believe INEC, have bitterly complained in private that the so-called glitch was the height of election rigging in Nigeria.

We hear they have also been threatening in beer parlours and in their sitting rooms that they will never allow a repeat of such glitch or any form of rigging. Some threaten to do unprintable things, but until now, such explosive threats have remained in the private settings.

So, what is new about this threat is the fact that it is now being made publicly and even on record.

I was seriously alarmed the day I first read reports quoting   

former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, of allegedly telling his supporters that he aligns with the new threat of killing anyone that dares rig 2027 Elections in Nigeria.

Addressing a political gathering, Omo-Agege, a chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) contesting to return to the Red Chambers for the Delta Central Senatorial District, was quoted in a report as allegedly saying: “I want to make the news again. Anybody who rigs the election on that day, we will kill him! If you don’t value your life, come and rig the election.

“They’re rigging your future. They’re rigging the future of your children. We’re waiting for them. Let them try it. It is rig and die. We’re going to give them aura for aura. There’s no court this time. We’re going to fight,” Senator Omo-Agege reportedly said.

It was after reading this outburst from the former Deputy Senate President that I  learnt of the new group named Polling Unit To Collation Center Movement, (PUTCCM), which, according to them, is currently being launched across the country, Nigeria, and whose central aim is to ensure 2027 Elections in Nigeria are not rigged.

At the weekend, I watched, in a social media platform, a  video clip of one of PUTCCM’s current outings in major cities of Nigeria, including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. In that particular video, which they said is their outing in Kano, I saw an articulate and passionate young lady, surrounded by angry looking youths, all dressed in black.

The lady, on behalf of the group issued their scary messages and warnings to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan SAN and other political stakeholders that they “will kill” any of them that rigs or tries to rig the forthcoming 2027 General Elections.

Aware that some legalistic analysts may contend that such open threat to kill a Nigerian citizen is, in itself illegal, the group warns that everybody should take note that rigging elections and thereby destroying the path of or destiny of a whole nation is not only illegal but a “treasonable” offence that deserves major punishment.

Speaking in video, said to have been recorded in Kano State, the group said every Nigerian has a constitutional right to vote for any candidate of his choice without intimidation, coercion or interference.

It warned electoral officials against taking actions that could undermine the will of the electorate, insisting that the 2027 elections must not follow the pattern of the disputed electoral experiences of 2023.

In a particularly alarming statement, the group reportedly declared, “If you rig our votes, we will kill you.”

Describing vote rigging as “a treasonable offence,” PUTCCM urged Nigerians to come out in large numbers, cast their ballots and defend their votes.”

The group also cautioned Nigerian youths against “participating in electoral malpractice.” It instead called on youths to “reject vote buying, ballot manipulation and other forms of electoral misconduct.”

The group also called on “security agencies to remain professional, impartial and committed to protecting voters and ensuring a peaceful electoral process.”

No matter how one looks at this development, it   confirms certain truths about today’s Nigeria and 2027 General Elections that we all must not  joke with.

One, it shows that politicians have actually pushed Nigerians to the wall and so must expect some survivalist reactions from them.

Truth is that even a rat, if a man or woman pursues a rat, it will most likely run for it’s life but if you pursues this same rat to the wall and it sees no other route of escape, it will certainly turn round and face the one that is pursuing it.

In this same reality, since most common Nigerians are currently feeling that politicians and their agents have not been allowing their votes to count and since, from the current reactions, they are now implying they have already been pursued to the wall, the logical thing to expect is that further pursuit in like manner will only elicit turn around reaction like an  endangered rat.

Another hard truth is that the chilly threat has again drawn attention to the growing concern over electoral credibility in Nigeria. It has, for example, become a fact that the current Nigerian Government has not done enough to disprove the belief of disappointed electorates that this current government never won the election in 2023.

It must be admitted that one certain way of sustaining people’s confidence in a nation’s leadership is conviction that the system that brought in the leadership was credible.

It is unfortunate that no one in government today seems to bother over this hard fact or over the people’s suspicion and allegation that the system was compromised in 2023, hence the current apprehension over 2027.

Given the current explosive reactions, we cannot deny the possibility of violence if we all continue to behave the old way, that is to dismiss the people’s sentiments with a wave of the hand or with condescending silence.

To move forward, our elections must not only be credible, but the people of Nigeria must be convinced they are credible.

One way of achieving this is true protection of voters’ rights. This is what the youths are demanding from INEC and from all the relevant leaders and stakeholders, though it may be argued their diction seems not diplomatic enough.

When voters defy scorching sun during the hot February to stand for hours to cast their votes, it would be too unfeeling not to ensure such voters leave their polling booths convinced all staff did their utmost best and that their votes will ultimately count.

So, while we solicit for more civility both in our utterances and actions ahead of the forthcoming 2027 Elections, it is my candid opinion that it will be in everybody’s interest if all INEC officials and other stakeholders in the forthcoming 2027 Elections ensure the need does not arise for any citizen or group to even contemplate killing anybody.

The true solution lies in every stakeholder taking the hint and therefore not daring to rig the elections rather than in the lazy argument as to whether open threat to kill a criminal is a crime.

• Samuel Hezekiah Egburonu Esq, is a lawyer, veteran journalist, literary scholar and current affairs analyst