President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement made available to pressmen by the Senior Special Adviser, Garbage Shehu lamented the rate of violence during elections. He said 2019 elections should be forgotten if a peaceful election cannot be successfully conducted in one state.
The President therefore directed all security agencies to do their utmost in ensuring violence-free elections in Ondo and Rivers states.
“The forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Ondo and National and State Assembly rerun elections in Rivers will serve as a litmus test for the general elections in 2019.”
‘‘What happened in the last elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers State disturbs me a lot. I think we should go beyond these actions. Why do we kill each other?Putting tyres on people and settingthem ablaze.”
‘‘I have told the law enforcement agencies, if we can’t conduct an election in one state then we should forget about 2019.”