![Buhari Gen.]()
President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari has said that his government will not allow those who perpetrated electoral violence during the last general elections to go unpunished. Speaking while receiving a delegation from Rivers state led by former Deputy Governor, Sir Gabriel Toby, the President-elect said that his government owe the Nigerian people the responsibility to ensure that those who trample on their rights are brought to book.
According to him "We will confront them with facts and figures. We will not forgive and we will not forget those who pepertrated killings and arson in Rivers state during the elections. At least this is the much we owe to Nigerians". He however assured Nigerians that they will surely get the respect they deserve from his government, adding that there will no army within the army or a police within the police.
Leader of the delegation and Deputy Governor of the state under Dr. Peter Odili, Sir Gabriel Toby told Journalists that they were in Abuja to congratulate the President elect and brief him on what transpired in the state during the elections.
The former Deputy Governor said that what transpired during presidential and the governorship elections did not reflect the wishes of the people of Rivers state.
While describing the election as a coup against the people of the state, he said the delegation has shown that Rivers people were behind the president-elect before, during and after the election, adding that the entire state will fully support the incoming government.
He appealed to the president-elect not to forget the persecution and many sacrifices made by the their son, Rotimi Ameachi, to the success of APC, asking that the Rivers governor and others be compensated for their immense contributions.
Also speaking while addressing a delegation from Delta state led by the APC governorship candidate, Olorogun Ortega Emerhor, Buhari said that the greatest disservice anybody aspiring to the position of authority can do to the nation is to arm the youths and turn them against their fellow human beings.
Buhari spoke just as Ortega gave account of how the governorship election in the state was rigged with the governorship candidate of the PDP, Patrick Okowa given more votes than the total number of accredited voters during the elections.
Buhari commended them for coming to congratulate him for emerging as the winner of the Presidential election, saying "I am very much in touch with your governor and he has kept me abreast with the running battle and I express my condolence to you for the people murdered and I assure you that my objective of remaining consistently in partisan politics is to make sure that Nigerians are given their inherent right as citizens of Nigeria to choose whoever they want to lead them. It is not a favour for them as Nigerians, but a constitutional right as citizens of this country. I will not support anybody who will undermine that right of Nigerians by whatever means.
"To use the military and other law enforcement agencies and worse still, to give drugs and weapons to unemployed youths and send them to kill their own people is the worst thing anybody aspiring to leadership can do to his country. I assure you that in our first term of four years, what I will concentrate on is that Nigerians will be proud to be Nigerians where ever they are. They will be respected, whoever they favour to be chosen as a representative or as a leader should go and submit himself to them. If they like, let them vote for you, if they don't like, let him try against and again and again.
"It hasn't been easy. The field work is not easy and because it is not easy, you get a lawyer to put it in proper term. Going through the court is not easy both materially and physically and I maintained that consistency because my view about my country is that Nigeria should be truly free. I have it so often and I don't mind reminding myself here.
"I understand why many of you were denied the opportunity to choose those you want to represent and lead you. Whether you get it or not, the most important thing is that you believe in the system and you should continue to try until the system is perfect".
Ortega said while available evidence revealed that only 709,700 registered voters were accredited for the governorship elections, the votes declared for the PDP candidate stood at 724,680, over 20,000 votes above the accredited figures.
He alleged that the PDP wants to hold unto the the state as well as Rivers and Akwa Ibom states because they are the richest states in the country in terms of oil resources so that they can use the resources to stage a come back to governance. He said "through the CTC of the card reader report that we have obtained from INEC, we have unearthed the massive fraud that PDP perpetuated in Delta state. We have filed our petitions to cancel these bogus elections in the tribunal in Delta state.
"Our election petition shows that while announced voter accreditation was over 1,017,796, the actual card reader accreditation report shows only 709,700.
"A cursory look shows that the votes allocated to the PDP governorship candidate (724,680) alone exceed the accredited voters as recorded by the card reader report. With these anomalies, we are indeed very optimistic that the governorship and assembly elections in Delta state will be nullified and a rerun ordered"
Recounting their experience during the elections, he said: "We would like to bring to your attention how the PDP disenfranchised the people of Delta and the South-south at both the Presidential and governorship elections. As our submission to the tribunal in respect of the governorship and state assembly elections will demonstrate, majority of Deltans were ready for the change you represent and were geared to vote massively for you and APC. Unfortunately, a grand design executed by the PDP in the south south and south east and particularly in Delta, Rivers and Akwa Ibom made sure that no proper election took place.
"Result sheets were confiscated and results fabricated, written and allocated to parties giving PDP massive votes while giving paltry votes to APC in order to portray it as not existing in the two zones.
"To provide a cover for this vote manipulation, PDP also resorted to violence and intimidation and ballot box snatching as a smoke screen. They effectively compromised both INEC and the security forces and this secured the declaration of PDP as winner in these states against the will and preferences of Delta people and the two zones.
He said further that "as you are aware, Delta state along with Akwa Ibom and Rivers are rich in oil resources and the PDP is determined to hold on to these states at all cost in order to utilize the huge revenue base of these states to re-launch itself to national reckoning.
"It is therefore strategic for the APC and your administration to pay particular attention and to assist us to break the stronghold of the PDP in Delta and the other states, irrespective of the intent of PDP to dubiously hold on to Delta state, our resolve to reclaim our mandate from the PDP is unshakeable as we are assured that under your presidency, the re-run elections will be undertaken in an environment that will allow for a free, fair and transparent election".
He added that "we also know that you are fully conversant with the challenges of the Niger Delta region which includes militancy, pipe line vandalisation, oil theft, environmental degradation and others. We assure you that the region will welcome all efforts by your administration to address these challenges and hereby offer our support and cooperation to resolve the challenges in the general interest of Nigerians"
