President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday
condemned the recent political violence in Rivers, saying the killing of
people over political differences was primitive, barbaric and
unacceptable.
A statement issued in Abuja by the
President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina,
noted that the President made this known at an interactive session with
Nigerians living in Equatorial Guinea.
Buhari warned that “henceforth,
government would deal decisively with perpetrators and sponsors of
violence, irrespective of their status in the society.
“Violence in any form will no longer be tolerated before, during or after elections.”
On the possibility of allowing Nigerians
abroad to vote in future elections, the President said that the
Independent National Electoral Commission would be encouraged to explore
it in the 2019 general elections.
While noting that some African countries
had started allowing their citizens resident abroad to vote in national
elections, Buhari said that he fully empathised with the desire of
Nigerians in the diaspora to vote in national elections.
He, therefore, pledged to do all within
his powers to fulfill that desire, adding that “I want all Nigerians to
know that I respect them and their right to choose their leaders.”
The President, who was responding to
complaints over the absence of direct flights from Nigeria to Equatorial
Guinea said that establishing a new national airline was not currently
on Federal Government’s list of priorities.
He declared that his administration’s main area of focus now was reducing the level of poverty in the country.
He added that developing the required
infrastructure to boost production in all sectors of the economy and
creating more jobs for young Nigerians, as well as other actions that
would directly improve the living conditions of ordinary Nigerians would
continue to be prioritised by his administration.
The President, however, assured that his administration’s war against corruption would remain relentless.
“We will be relentless in pursuing all those who abused public trust.
“Nigerians will see how some of the elite conspired to run the nation down.”
