by Amadi Chimenem
Muhammadu Buhari’s confession that his incapacity marred the Kogi, Bayelsa, and Rivers elections is tantamount to shedding crocodile tears. The outcomes of the three elections were scripted by the Presidency.
The people of Kogi succumbed to Buhari’s use of state violence to enthrone the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, but the Niger Deltans in Bayelsa and Rivers State resisted Buhari’s resort to state sponsored violence.
That Buhari had the effrontery to play the ostrich on Rivers violence exposes him as a hypocrite.
The President handed over the military and the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad to his minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, yet he says the violence in the rerun elections is shameful. The shame rests on the President.
For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a minister moved around with about 200 soldiers armed with Armoured Personnel Carriers with which he disrupted elections, snatched results and abducted collation officers. The videos have since gone viral. Maybe, President Muhammadu Buhari is too ashamed to see them.
The NIMASA DG, Dakuku Peterside and the NDDC DG, Ibim Semenitari both had over 100 soldiers with which they committed various degrees of electoral crimes. The Presidency cannot claim not to have seen the videos online.
The AIG in Charge of the Election, Baba Bolanta announced that four persons died during the elections. Of these four persons, two had their deaths traced to soldiers deployed by President Muhammadu Buhari. One was killed by soldiers in Obio/Akpor and the other in Tai. The corps member was a victim of APC thugs led by a top Rivers APC leader. The fourth person was killed by Flag Amachree in Asari-Toru. Amachree is an associate of the Minister of Transportation.
In the Ogoni and Bonny axis elections failed to hold because INEC deliberately distributed fake result sheets while handing over the original result sheets to APC leaders. The people refused to allow the trick to succeed. INEC is a Federal agency.
All the infractions during the rerun elections were traced to the doorstep of the Federal Government . Rather than make escapist statement, Buhari should apologise to Nigerians for attempting to impose APC on Rivers State because of her money.
If the over 25000 security personnel deployed by Buhari to Rivers State had concentrated on security duties, rather than on a vain rigging plot, the elections would have been peaceful.
Just imagine the over N15 billion that the Buhari administration invested in funding APC and security agencies for the rerun elections. If these funds were invested in projects, the impact would have been obvious.
Rivers rerun elections proved that the voice of the people can never be silenced by intimidation. We advise Buhari to lick his political wound quietly like his sponsor, Rotimi Amaechi is doing.
Amadi Chimenem is a graduate of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. Connect with him on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
