President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said he was not afraid of free and fair elections in 2019.....
Also, the President faulted the Nigerian
media reportage of the farmers, herders clashes in the country, saying
the coverage had been largely uninformed.
He said as a beneficiary of credible elections, he would ensure that his administration organized free and fair elections.
According to a statement by his Senior
Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President
said this in Beijing during an interactive session he had with members
of the Nigerian community in China.
Buhari is in the Asian country to
participate in the 7th Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation
scheduled to hold from September 3 to 4 in Beijing.
The President promised that he would ensure that the 2019 polls, under his watch, would be free, fair and credible.
He pledged that the Independent National
Electoral Commission and security agents would allow Nigerians eligible
to vote in the next general elections to freely elect candidates of
their choice.
Buhari said, “I have no fear about free
and fair elections because that is what brought me to the present
position. I know what I went through and very few Nigerians could boast
of trying four times (contesting the Presidency).
“Those interested in participating in
the elections must get their PVCs, register in their constituencies and
elect anybody of their choice across ethnicity and religion.
“The Nigerian police, law enforcement agencies and INEC must respect the right of the people to express their wishes.”
Citing recent elections in Bauchi,
Katsina and Kogi states, the President said the country had made
progress when compared to elections conducted in the past years.
On security issues, the President
reaffirmed that his government had succeeded in curtailing Boko Haram
insurgents in the country.
He added that the terrorist group was no longer in control of any part of the country.
Buhari attributed the success to
operations of security agencies deployed to counter insurgency in the
north-eastern part of the country.
“You will all recall that we contested
the last election basically on three issues, which include security,
especially in the North-East.
“The Boko Haram used to occupy quite a number of local governments in Borno State but they are not in anyone now.
“They have resorted to a very dangerous
way of terrorism by indoctrinating young people, mostly girls and
attacking soft targets, churches, mosques and marketplaces,” he added.
On herders and farmers’ clashes in
Nigeria, the President told the Nigerians in the Diaspora that while
security agencies were doing their best to curtail the clashes, the
Nigerian media needed to complement the efforts through objective and
informed reportage.
The President appealed to the Nigerian
media to make an attempt at understanding the cultural and historical
implications of some of the misunderstanding between herders and
farmers.
“To my disappointment, the members of
the press in Nigeria do not make enough efforts, in my observation, to
study the historical antecedents of issues that are creating national
problems for us,” he said.
According to the President, due to the
effects of climate change, a farm that used to belong to five people now
belong to 50 people, adding that the weather condition, particularly
the rainy season, is now unpredictable.
The President partly blamed the
farmers-herders’ controversy on the shrinking of the Lake Chad, which he
said, had forced many nomadic herders to seek greener pastures for
their herds in other parts of the country.
On Nigeria-China relations, Buhari
applauded China’s generosity and contributions to the development of
Nigeria, citing the successful completion of the Abuja-Kaduna railway
line, built by the Chinese, and ongoing works on the Lagos, Ibadan,
Ilorin, Abuja, Kano railway routes.
He said Nigeria and China were also negotiating on the Mambilla project.
The President advised Nigerians planning
to travel abroad for “greener pastures” to do so legitimately and not
to expect too much from their countries of destination.
“You cannot seek greener pastures in a
place where you are not respected because of the color of your skin or
your lack of education or other things. Personally, I think you will
earn more respect when you remain at home and get a job,” he said.
Acknowledging the material and
intellectual support of Nigerians in the Diaspora to the development of
Nigeria, the President assured them that his administration would remain
focused and committed to providing the needed infrastructure need for
Nigeria’s prosperity.
Earlier in his remarks, the Nigerian
Ambassador to China, Baba Ahmed-Jidda, thanked the President for his
support to the Embassy, which he said led to the completion of the
Ambassador’s residence.
The Ambassador praised Nigerians resident in the various province of China for being law-abiding with the exception of few.
On consular matters, the envoy told the
President that Nigerians were facing difficulties in the process of
obtaining Chinese visas – an issue he thinks the President should take
up with the Chinese authority.
Also speaking, the President of the
China Chapter of Nigerians in the Diaspora Organization, Brian Akiti,
while wishing the country successful elections in 2019 pledged the
support of the organization to the present administration’s development
agenda.
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