President Muhammadu Buhari on
Tuesday in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, spoke for the first time on the recent
political violence in Rivers State and vowed to deal with the sponsors of the
violence decisively.
A statement by his media aide,
Mr. Femi Adesina said Buhari condemned the violence, adding that the killing of
people over political differences was primitive, barbaric and unacceptable.
“We will deal decisively with
all sponsors of violence. I have given the security services clear directives
in this regard. We will show that violence in any form will no longer be
tolerated before, during or after elections,” the president said at an
interactive meeting with Nigerians resident in Equatorial Guinea.
Buhari said that the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would be encouraged to explore
the possibility of Nigerians abroad voting in the 2019 general election, noting
that some African countries had started allowing their citizens resident abroad
to vote in national elections.
The president said that he
fully empathised with the desire of Nigerians in the diaspora to vote in
national elections, and promised to do all within his powers to fulfill that
desire.
“I want all Nigerians to know
that I respect them and their rights to choose their leaders,” he said.
The president also said that
the establishment of a new national airline was not on the federal government’s
list of priorities.
Buhari was responding to
complaints by members of the Nigerian community about the absence of direct
flights between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.
Buhari declared that his administration’s main area of focus was reducing the level of poverty in the country.