OPINION

2027: ‘RIG AND DIE’ – IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY, BY GODWIN ANAUGHE

Published

28 minutes ago

October 27, 2026

We have watched with amusement the contrived outrage by the Government of Delta State, some APC hirelings in Delta and their collaborators in the media over Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s principled declaration that in 2027, it will be ‘RIG AND DIE’.

2. Their fake tears, especially the comedy skit by the Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information and Chairman, Media and Publicity Committee of Delta APC Campaign Council, Mr. Charles Aniagwu and the watery epistle from Senator Ede Dafinone’s camp, pretend that ‘RIG AND DIE’ is a call to violence. That is a lie. It is mischief. It is hypocrisy from people who rig for a living and their sponsors who want to remain in power perpetually at all cost.

3. ‘RIG AND DIE’ is not a threat to voters. Voters don’t rig elections. It is a threat to riggers who falsify election figures and results. Those who cart and run away with electoral materials. It is a patriotic warning to ballot thieves to stay away. It is a total rejection of electoral robbery and manipulation. It is a declaration that the criminal enterprise of rigging must be exterminated so that democracy will live. It is lawful. It is constitutional. It is consistent with the spirit of section 1(2) of the 1999 Constitution which says Nigeria shall not be governed by anyone who takes power except in accordance with the Constitution.

4. To rig an election is treason. It is a coup against the people. It is political robbery. ‘RIG AND DIE’ simply entails every rigging machinery will be defeated and crushed by popular resistance. The era of writing results in Government House must end. The era of fake security personnel, fake INEC officials, vote buying and BVAS bypass must end. The plot to steal the people’s mandate will die at the polling unit where the people will stand to defend their votes.

5. The truth is simple: Oborevwori, Dafinone, Delta APC and indeed APC cannot win a free and fair election. Oborevwori has wasted over 5 trillion naira with nothing commensurate to show. Dafinone has no grassroots support and no legislative record to campaign with. Their only hope is to write results. That is why a call to defend votes sounds to them like a death sentence. A guilty conscience needs no accuser.

6. This language is not new. In April 2014, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then APC National Leader, warned that it would be “rig and roast” for riggers in Ekiti and Osun. In February 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari directed that ballot box snatchers should be shot at sight, that they would pay with their lives and ordered security agencies to deal ruthlessly with them. The Federal Executive Council backed him. Patriots hailed both statements as defence of democracy.

7. If Tinubu’s “rig and roast” was patriotic and Buhari’s shoot-at-sight order was official policy, how does Omo-Agege’s “rig and die” suddenly become anarchy? This is hypocrisy and selective amnesia.

8. On October 12, 2013, during the Delta Central bye-election to replace Senator Pius Ewherido of blessed memory, Dafinone himself as DPP candidate screamed that “There was no voting.” He accused INEC of withholding result sheets and called the poll a sham. Then, he knew rigging was evil. Today, because his camp hopes to benefit from it, he wants Deltans to embrace rigging. We will not.

9. They now blackmail Omo-Agege with the tired mace story out of ignorance and mischief. Let us put the facts on record. Omo-Agege’s presence on the floor of the Senate that day was in defence of democracy and against legislative tyranny. He had secured a valid judgment of the Federal High Court nullifying his illegal suspension by a high-handed Senate leadership. The court declared the suspension unconstitutional, unlawful and illegal. He did not go to steal a mace and did not steal a mace. He went to resume his seat as a duly elected Senator.

10. It was defence of the Constitution, defence of the judiciary, and defence of legislative independence. The courts afterwards completely exonerated him. That is why Deltans overwhelmingly returned him and his colleagues elected him Deputy President of the Senate – the highest office ever held by any Deltan.

11. Just as his action on the Senate floor was in defence of democracy and against tyranny, so also is RIG AND DIE in defence of democracy against ballot theft at the polling unit. Both defend Section 1(2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

12. Let us be clear: Senator Ovie Omo-Agege did not threaten voters. He did not threaten INEC or the police. He warned the criminal enterprise that thinks it can intimidate voters, buy votes, bring in thugs dressed in police uniform, and write results. That enterprise will not survive in Delta in 2027. This you can take to the bank.

13. Omo-Agege has earned the right to be angry. In 2023, he won the Delta Governorship election on lawful ballots. Deltans wanted to end eight disastrous years of Okowa’s misrule. Okowa and his political stooge, Sheriff Oborevwori, working with compromised APC big wigs rigged him out with state funds and fake results in Delta North Senatorial District especially in Ika North, Ika South, Oshimili North and Oshimili South. As a law-abiding leader, he went to court. The system protected the riggers.

14. Today, Sheriff, wearing APC clothes but PDP at heart, is plotting the same script for 2027 with his 5 trillion naira war chest. That is why Omo-Agege says there will be no court this time. We will defend our votes at the polling units and collation centers. That is lawful. That is constitutional.

15. We call on INEC and the security agencies to be impartial. Protect voters, count votes accurately, and collate honestly.

16. From Orogun to Uvwie, Udu to Ughelli, Sapele to Warri, Agbor to Asaba, every polling unit will be locked down by vigilant voters. Count the votes and announce as counted.

17. To the riggers in Government House and in APC, including Dafinone’s camp whose principal only became senator in 2023 because leaders like Omo-Agege stood firm against rigging – stop your rigging plans. 2027 will be decided by ballots, not by written results.

18. In 2027, the people must decide. Their votes must count. Their mandate must stand. Every attempt to rig will be met with lawful, peaceful and resolute resistance at the polling units. The rigging will be exterminated. The people’s mandate will live.

19. Omo-Agege has no apology. He spoke the mind of Nigerians. As a man who laboured in the Senate to reform our electoral laws, he cannot be silenced and watch riggers continue to steal the people’s mandate.

20. RIG AND DIE IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY.

Anaughe, is Special Adviser, Strategy and Communications to Senator Ovie Omo-Agege