Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari
Following the mindless killings across the country under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari, which has led to widespread condemnation of the President and his style of keeping silent in the face of the bloodshed Buhari yesterday finally promised that the merchants of violence “will soon have the shock of their lives.”
Mr. Femi Adesina his spokesperson in a statement claimed that Buhari made the declaration after the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu had briefed him on the attacks on facilities of the electoral body.
In the statement entitled ‘Those who want to destroy this country have shock coming their way, says President Buhari,” Adesina stated that the president said: “I receive daily security reports on the attacks, and it is very clear that those behind them want this administration to fail. Insecurity in Nigeria is now mentioned all over the world. All the people who want power, whoever they are, you wonder what they really want. Whoever wants the destruction of the system will soon have the shock of their lives. We’ve given them enough time,” he said.
Buhari recalled that he visited all the 36 states before the 2019 election, “and majority of the people believed me, and the election proved it.” He promised to continue leading the country in accordance with constitutional provisions. He said those misbehaving in certain parts of the country were obviously too young to know the travails and loss of lives that characterised the Nigerian civil war.
“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand. We are going to be very hard sooner than later.” The president said the service chiefs and the inspector general of police have been changed, “and we will demand security from them.”
Reacting to the president’s statement, constitutional lawyer, Mr. Mike Ozekhome, said the president’s threat “is an empty one that only emboldens the criminal elements in the society who have been hearing of such threats so many times.”
While speaking on AIT morning programme Kaakaki on Wednesday, Ozekhome challenged the president to “walk the talk” adding that “it signifies nothing when you don’t match your words with action.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the other hand advised the president to match his words with actions and lead the fight against insecurity from the front when it said, “On the issue of security, the expectation of Nigerians is that Mr. President should lead the battle against insecurity from the front like he promised during his electioneering.
“But the inactions of Mr. President today are responsible for the deluge of insecurity that has affected our nation. The expectation of Nigerians, furthermore, is that these challenges should not be limited to the issues of lip talk; rather, they should be confronted so that Nigerians can sleep with their two eyes closed,” said spokesman for the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan in an interview.
On the 2023 elections, the PDP spokesperson said, “The least Nigerians expect from the President for INEC to function optimally, is for him to revisit the Electoral Act amendment which he refused to assent to. “He should dust it up and return it to the National Assembly if there are further amendments they should be included. Let them work on it and return it to him to sign into law so that our elections will be better.
“Mr. President should also encourage INEC to institutionalise the electronic transfer of results in order to forestall problems that arise in the process of collation. This is not too much to ask.
“As a political party interested in the corporate existence of this great country, we are prepared like we have always done, to offer advice and assist in every legitimate way to help Nigeria overcome its challenges,” he added. Also commenting, rights activist, Mr. Deji Adeyanju said, “Buhari says he will deal with us in the language we understand. Does he want to off light, remove the cameras at the Tollgate again and kill citizens again?”
Co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement, Aisha Yesufu said: “Someone needs to tell Buhari that this is not the era of the 60s and government no longer has monopoly of violence.”
