Peter Obi, Umeh, Ben Obi Officially Register for ADC

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

Former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, the senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, Senator Victor Umeh, and a former lawmaker and presidential aide, Senator Ben Obi, yesterday officially registered with the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The chieftains had earlier converged on Awka, where they flagged off the registration exercise, calling on members to return to their wards to register and to go out to search for new members.

While Obi registered at Agulu ward 2 in Anaocha Local Government Area, Umeh was registered by his ward chairman in Aguluzigbo ward 1 in the same local government. In contrast, Ben Obi registered in Agulu Awka, Awka South Local Government Area, all in Anambra State.

The party chieftains vowed to challenge the newly passed 2026 Electoral Act in court, alleging that it was deliberately designed to manipulate the outcome of the 2027 general election.

 Obi, who spoke at the flag-off exercise, said the provisions of the new law were skewed to facilitate electoral manipulation.

According to him, “all the laws being hurriedly churned out now are simply aimed at enabling them to snatch the 2027 presidential election and run away with it.

“But this time, we will catch them. We have seen all the reviews of the electoral act, and INEC has no reason to dictate how parties should elect their candidates. Some of us will challenge it. INEC should focus on how to conduct an election. They now choose to abandon their work as referees and then want to teach a coach how to select their players. 

“Those who claimed to be democrats just yesterday are now the worst dictators. They are not talking about governance; they are now talking about snatching power and running with it again, as they did in 2023.

“We are now the country with the worst power problem, but what they are talking about is how to snatch and run with election results, but this time, we will not let them run. If they do, we will grab them. They will not be able to do it this time.”

Speaking on the possibility of his victory, Obi said: “On this journey, South-east is working as a family. All the notable political leaders are here in ADC. We are all working together as a family, and we are discussing with other parts of the country.

“In this exercise, we are working to unite every opposition party, so you are going to see members of the political parties working with us, and the aim is to make Nigeria a working place.

“We want Nigeria to be a secure country, not one that is the fifth most insecure country in the world, and the number one country where no one wants to be born in.”

 He called for massive registration, saying, “We want to register as many people as possible because the election of 2027 will be against bad leadership.

“They will not say the South-east has come again, or that the South-east just needs power, but they must understand that the South-east is Nigeria and that we are a part of it and stakeholders too. 

“We in the South-east are saying that we want a new Nigeria, and we are the only people you will find in every part of Nigeria with their own houses and doing legitimate business.

“We want a Nigeria where we will put Nigeria out of poverty, and we know we can be secure if we put people out of poverty.

“Chairman of the flag ceremony, Senator Ben Obi said: “I want to assure you that no one will be cheated. We all have one goal, and the goal is to ensure that Peter Obi becomes the president.”