President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, issued death threats to election riggers and political thugs who may want to subvert the electoral process, especially on election day, saying they would be doing so at the expense of their lives.
The President, who vehemently expressed displeasure at the postponement of the general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, also declared that the electoral umpire cannot take Nigerians for granted. According to him, the commission must answer for its “incompetence” immediately after the general elections. The President, who spoke during an emergency caucus meeting of his ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, said Nigeria’s security and defence forces are under clear instructions to deal ruthlessly with election riggers. His statement, however, drew immediate reactions from Ohanaeze Ndigbo, pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Second Republic lawmaker, Junaid Mohammed and lawyers, including Mike Ozekhome, Ebun Adegboruwa, Norris Quaker, Abiodun Owonikoko. President Buhari said: “I do not expect anybody to make any disturbance. I have briefed the law enforcement agencies and the military to identify hotspots, flash points; they should be prepared to move. They too would have made their own arrangements as possible and resources provided as much as the country can afford it. “Anybody who decides to snatch ballot boxes or lead thugs to disturb it (elections), maybe that would be the last unlawful action he would take. I have directed the police and the military to be ruthless. “We are not going to be blamed that we want to rig elections. I want Nigerians to be respected, let them vote whoever they want across the parties. I’m not afraid. As you said, I have gone round all the 36 states and Abuja. I think I have got enough support across the country. “I am going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system, he would do it at the expense of his own life.”
Amosun, Okorocha absent
At the caucus meeting, the governors of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, and his Ogun State counterpart, Ibikunle Amosun, were conspicuously absent. Both governors have had a running battle with the party leadership over the choice of governorship candidate for their states. Buhari, who said he was confident of garnering enough supporters, having gone round the country to campaign, urged party members to reassure their constituents to come out and vote on the rescheduled dates. The President urged party agents to watch out for the party’s interests at the polling units, adding that he was told about the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to postpone last Saturday’s election at about 4.45a.m. in the morning of the elections. According to him, INEC had all the time and resources and didn’t have to wait six hours to the elections to announce postponement. “INEC had all the time and all the resources they wanted and didn’t have to wait for only six hours to cancel the elections and tell us it was impossible. Definitely, the reason such incompetence manifested has to be explained to the nation. INEC must explain to the nation, says Buhari “After the elections, we have to know exactly what happened and who is responsible. 
Otherwise, our efforts to make sure that this system is acceptable would have been eroded. “The constitution and the law protects INEC, but they must not take us for granted. If for example, the National Assembly refused to approve what they wanted, INEC would have had moral reasons they couldn’t perform. “If the time of four years of election was not constitutionally obeyed by the government, INEC would have a case. But we don’t understand the reason for this inefficiency and we have to go into details after the election to find out who is responsible. “I thank the party leadership for their commitment. That was why we sat and said we must have committed leaders in all constituencies to be our agents. We also sat down and worked out the least the party should do for our agents so that they will not depend on anybody or say I am going to drink water or I am going to toilet. “We made all those arrangements and put it before the governors and chairmen of the party. Where the APC has no governors, the governorship candidates and state chairmen were given that assignment. “I am satisfied that this instruction has been passed down. Right now, we have so much to do and so, we should now go back to our loyal members in all constituencies so that if anything happens, we will know who to blame. “We have told our constituents to be patient and react in a very mature way by going peacefully and vote and depend on party representatives in the polling units,” the President stated. 
Photo Credit: Getty
