Cynthia Ezegwu
Speaking at the First Daily Annual Public Lecture on Monday, November 10, political activist Randy Peters asserted that Nigerian votes can indeed count, but warned that citizens must remain vigilant to prevent electoral abuses from being repeated.
“Votes can count. If Nigerians insist that their votes should count, it will count,” Peters said, emphasizing that ignoring past electoral misconduct would be like “covering up a case of murder because the person has died.”
He referred specifically to the 2023 elections, describing them not merely as monitored events but as “a crime watch,” with observers documenting irregularities that must not be swept under the carpet.
Peters highlighted loopholes in Nigeria’s electoral laws that allow post-election judicial disputes to override the popular will.
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“When Nigeria spends billions of Naira to conduct an election, then waits for judges or courts to choose the leaders, it undermines democracy,” he said, warning that the judicialization of politics remains a major threat to genuine voter empowerment.
Turning his attention to the future, Peters framed the issue of voting as a matter of national survival. “Making our votes count is not just for our democracy, but for Nigeria as a whole,” he said, stressing the importance of reforms ahead of 2027.
He urged citizens, civil society, and political stakeholders to analyze past elections rigorously and identify systemic gaps. “We must explore and know what happened. If we fail to attend to the issues that arose from that election, there will be consolidation on it,” he said, underlining the risks of inaction.
The lecture included a panel discussion in which experts and practitioners were invited to contribute their perspectives on ensuring that Nigerian votes genuinely reflect the people’s will. Peters encouraged a practical, question-driven approach, asking panelists to identify actionable solutions ahead of future elections.