President Muhammadu Buhari has warned that anyone who disrupts the forthcoming general elections by snatching ballot boxes or disturbing polling units could pay with their lives.
President Buhari said this while speaking at the caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja on Monday, February 18, 2019.
Buhari expressed confidence that he’ll win the election following the support he garnered during his campaign said he’s mandated law enforcement agencies to be ruthless against people planning to disrupt the elections or snatch ballot boxes. He said:
“I do not expect anybody to make any disturbance. I have briefed the law enforcemnt agencies and the military to identify hotspots, flash points, [and] they should be prepared to move. They too would have made their own arrangement as possible as resources have been provided as much as the country can afford it.
“Anybody who decides to snatch ballot boxes or lead thugs to disturb it (elections), maybe that would be the last unlawful action he would take. I have directed the police and the military to be ruthless.
“We are not going to be blamed that we want to rig elections. I want Nigerians to be respected, let them vote whoever they want across the parties. I’m not afraid… As you said, I have gone round all the 36 states and Abuja. I think I have gotten enough support across the country.
“I am going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system, he would do it at the expense of his own life.”