Peter Obi Condemns Voice Vote on Rivers Emergency, Calls Nigeria’s Democracy “Transactional, Compromised, Organised Criminality”

Chinelo UgwuMarch 21, 2025

1 1 minute read

Peter Obi has again criticized the use of voice voting by the National Assembly on the Rivers State emergency declaration.

On March 18, Nigerian lawmakers approved President Tinubu’s emergency declaration using a voice vote. Obi strongly opposed this method.

In a post on X, Obi said the voice vote clearly shows democracy does not truly exist in Nigeria.

“The parliamentary vote held yesterday clearly demonstrates that democracy, in its true sense, does not exist in Nigeria. Where there is no functional opposition, democracy cannot thrive.”

He further noted that lawmakers often defect from their parties without losing their seats, which completely undermines party discipline.

Moreover, Obi stressed that democracy requires an effective opposition and proportional representation, as seen in South Africa and Indonesia.

For instance, he explained that in South Africa’s 400-member National Assembly, seat distribution reflects actual vote percentages across multiple parties.

In addition, he pointed out that elected officials in such systems cannot switch parties without forfeiting their seats, thus safeguarding the electoral mandate.

However, Obi argued that Nigeria lacks these legal provisions, allowing politicians to switch allegiances freely and disregard voter choices.

Consequently, he said Nigeria’s party seat allocations fail to reflect real election outcomes under the current system.

According to Obi, if Nigeria adopted proportional representation, APC would hold 44 Senate seats, PDP 33, and Labour Party 27.

Likewise, he estimated that the House should have 144 APC members, 108 PDP members, and 90 Labour Party members.

“What we are left with is not a genuine democratic system, but one that is transactional, compromised, and, in many respects, resembles organised criminality.”

Therefore, Obi warned that Nigeria’s democracy would remain fragile and dysfunctional without urgent reforms to enforce party discipline.

Finally, he vowed to keep fighting for true democracy, declaring, “We will not surrender to criminality. We shall continue to fight for democracy – genuine democracy.”