The president-elect, General Muhammudu Buhari (rtd), has again vowed to unearth and deal with those involved in the violence that trailed the conduct of the last general election in Rivers State.
Buhari, who stated this while receiving a delegation of traditional rulers and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the state, regretted that many lives were lost in the process due to the desperation of some politicians to win elections at all costs.
Buhari said: “We will confront them with facts and figures. We will not forgive and we will not forget those who perpetrated the killings and arson in Rivers State during the elections. At least this is the much we owe Nigerians,” he said.
He also assured Nigerians that they would surely get the respect they deserve from the government, adding that there would be no army within the army or a police within the police.
Earlier, former Deputy Governor of the state who led delegation, Mr. Gabriel Toby, told journalists that what happened during both presidential and the governorship elections did not reflect the wishes of the people.
He described the elections as a coup, saying the calibre of persons in the delegation to Buhai had shown that Rivers people were behind the president-elect before, during and after the election, adding that the entire state would fully support the incoming government.
The former deputy governor asked the president-elect not to forget the persecution and many sacrifices made by the their son, Rotimi Ameachi, for the success of the All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that the state governor and others should be compensated for their immense contributions to the victory of the APC.
Meanwhile, another delegation from Delta State yesterday paid a solidarity visit to Buhari.
The governorship candidate of the APC in the state, Emerhor Otega, who led the delegation, lamented the anomalies that trailed the conduct of the elections in Delta State and the South-south region.
Otega alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disenfranchised the people of the state and the South-south in both the presidential and governorship elections.
He said though the people of the state voted for the APC but through a grand design, the PDP made sure that proper elections did not take place.
“Result sheets were confiscated and results fabricated, written, allowing the PDP to have massive votes, while giving paltry votes to the 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 smokescreen. 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 the Delta people and the two zones.
“Through the certified true copy (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 the 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) along 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 a Delta state will be nullified and a rerun ordered. Otega said
In his remark, the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, thanked the Delta delegation just as he maintained that his administration would not support anybody who will undermine that right of Nigerians by whatever means.
