The convener of the Movement for Credible Elections (MCE), Obiageli Ezekwesili, has stressed the need to allow citizens to freely exercise their voting rights without fear of intimidation in the 2027 general elections.

Mr Ezekwesili stated this on Monday in Abuja at an emergency stakeholders’ engagement on the 2027 general elections, with the theme “Securing The Future: The Integral Link Between Credible Elections and National Stability.”

She said that the national dialogue organised by the MCE was to discuss the prospects and challenges defining the journey to the 2027 general elections.

Mrs Ezekwesili, who is also the chair of the Board of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG), decried the alleged harassment and intimidation of dissenting voices and opposition citizens.

“Citizens must have the liberty to exercise their rights, as we approach the 2027 elections.

“Citizens operating under fear that their voices will be muffled and their freedoms violated should give everyone reason to worry,” she said.

The convener also expressed concern over what she described as the increasing loss of public confidence in the electoral system since 1999.

She pointed out that the 2023 presidential election recorded a dismal 23 per cent voter turnout, falling far below the African average of 47 per cent and accounting for less than one-third of global standards.

According to her, this historic decline stems directly from widespread distrust of the public institutions saddled with the mandate to conduct credible elections.

She called for genuine solidarity and collective action among Nigerians to sustain the country’s democratic structures, while warning political actors against actions that could instigate the people.

“We have gathered not as people with political leanings, but because our problem is a political class problem.

“Across all party lines, we have a political class that has consistently failed in governance.

“Democracy does not belong to politicians; it belongs to citizens.

“While Nigerians have consistently called for electoral reforms to ensure transparency and credibility, the government’s failure to respond adequately has left critical gaps in the electoral framework,” Mrs Ezekwesili said.

Speaking at the event, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewale Adebayo, called on political parties to guard their autonomy and resist external infiltration.

Mr Adebayo urged the public to protect the transition process by acting as democratic vigilantes across every stage of the electoral cycle.

He urged young people, who make up close to 70 per cent of the population, to actively get involved in electoral activities, while challenging media organisations to play their watchdog and sensitisation roles.

“The media has to highlight all these abnormalities and let us have plurality of opinions and let us know the danger we are facing,” Mr Adebayo said.

A presidential aspirant of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, commended the MCE for standing up for credible elections in Nigeria.

Mr Obi, represented by his chief spokesperson, Tanko Yunusa, emphasised the need for a credible voter register to achieve credible elections.

He also emphasised the need for the National Assembly to revisit the issue of electoral reforms.

“We are asking and demanding that the electoral reform should be urgently revisited in the interest of free, fair and credible elections.

“We say this with pathetic zeal. For some of us who have been in the trenches for a very long time, this is no more time for us to continue to agitate in a cosy room like this.

“We should take these messages to the streets and fight this particular issue so that we can get the right electoral reform,” he said.

Mr Obi recommended that the communiqué of the programme should be presented to the National Assembly, INEC and President Bola Tinubu for urgent action on credible elections. 

(NAN)