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.

The president said that developing the infrastructure needed to boost production in all sectors of the economy and create more jobs for young Nigerians, as well as other actions that would directly improve the living conditions of ordinary Nigerians remain the priority of his administration.

He assured them that his administration’s war against corruption would remain “fearless, relentless and merciless”.

“We will be merciless and relentless in pursuing all those who abused public trust. Nigerians will see how some of the elite conspired to run the nation down,” he said.

However, with the stage set for a showdown between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saturday’s re-run polls in Rivers State, the state government has petitioned the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), African Union (A) and the governments of about 50 countries demanding global surveillance on the process to ensure the conduct of a free, fair and credible election in the state.