THE President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday read a riot act to those who will serve under his government and other Nigerians.
He said anybody who undermines the right of Nigerians will not get his support.
Buhari, who was addressing a delegation from Delta State, led by the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Olorogun Ortega Emerhor, said the greatest disservice anybody aspiring to the position of authority could do to the nation was to equip the youth and turn them against their fellow human beings.
He spoke after Emerhor explained how the governorship election in Delta State was rigged and the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) given more votes than the total number of accredited voters.
Buhari lauded the delegation for coming to congratulate him for emerging as the winner of the presidential election.
He said: “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 my first term, what I will concentrate on is that Nigerians will be proud to be Nigerians wherever they are. They will be respected by whoever they favour to be chosen as a representative or as a leader. 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. 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.”
He added: “I understand why many of you were denied the opportunity to choose those you want to represent and lead you. If you are taking the line I took in the last 12 years – which is in line with our constitution – 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.”
Emerhor 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.
His words: “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) exceeded 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 APC members’ experience during the elections, he said: “We would like to bring to your attention how the PDP disenfranchised the people of Delta and the Southsouth 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 Southsouth and Southeast, 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 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.”
He added: “As you are aware, Delta State along with Akwa Ibom and Rivers are the rich oil resources and the PDP is determined to hold on to these states at all cost in order to utilise 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 out in placing modalities 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.
“We also know that you are fully conversant with the challenges of the Niger Delta region, which includes militancy, pipeline 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 we hereby offer our support and cooperation to resolve the challenges in the general interest of Nigerians.”