Obi: Our team will independently track 2027 election results

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2027 election, says his team plans to create an independent system for sending election results from polling units to its situation room.

Obi made this known during an exclusive interview with Arise TV on Thursday, saying the arrangement would allow his team to receive and follow results from polling units as they are recorded.

The former Anambra State governor said the system would work alongside the Independent National Electoral Commission’s official result transmission process.

“We must make sure that at every polling unit, the votes are counted, the votes are recorded properly, the votes are transmitted properly.

“And we will have even a dual transmission so that as it’s going to the proper designated INEC portal, it’s also being transmitted where the people can see it,” he said.

When asked if his proposal to increase the number of IReV systems across the country amounted to creating a parallel result-transmission system, Obi disagreed.

“All we are saying is that this time around, we will make sure that in every polling unit, we must have a system that transmits to our own situation room the correct results,” he stated.

Obi said other organisations could adopt similar systems to monitor the election, adding that the objective was to ensure that only results from polling units were announced.

“And I’m sure there are so many other agencies that intend to do the same thing. So we’re not going to have a situation where somebody pronounces something that didn’t emanate from the polling unit. Our task is to make sure that the right things are done,” Obi said.

The NDC candidate said it was possible to conduct a transparent election, pointing to Ghana and other countries as examples.

Obi also described the 2027 election as a contest between Nigerians and the government, rather than one focused only on political parties.