Rivers Re-run: Buhari Orders Security Agencies To Deal Decisively With Troublemakers

Ahead of Satuday’s rerun legislative elections in Rivers state, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed security agencies to come hard on troublemakers who may want to violate the sanctity of the electoral process in the state.

Handing down this directive on Friday, he however tasked the security agents to exhibit professionalism and non-partisanship in the discharge of their constitutional duties even in the face of extreme provocations.

The President, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to do all within its powers to ensure that the poll is free and transparent.

While calling for a peaceful and orderly conduct in the rerun elections, he urged all political parties, their candidates, other stakeholders and the people of the state to ensure that the polls are conducted without rigging, violence and intimidation of opponents and electoral officials.

Buhari reminded politicians and their supporters in the state to put the higher interest of the people of the state in mind, as they go to the polls.

He maintained that, “The rerun elections should not be seen as a do-or-die affair to the extent that people will be killed, maimed and property destroyed in a mindless display of crude primitive instincts. Innocent blood should never be sacrificed on the altar of political contest for temporary power”.

The President went on to restate the commitment of his administration to deepen the nation’s democracy by enthroning a legacy of respect for the wishes of the people through free, fair and credible elections devoid of intimidation and violence across the federation.