Nigerians from all works of life have continued to give varying reaction to the statement made by President, Muhammadu Buhari ordering the security operatives to be ruthless against ay individual who tries to snatch the election ballot boxes.
At the meeting which had in attendance governors and party stalwarts, the President made this declaration during the emergency Caucus meeting of the All Progre4ssives Congress, apparently held in view of the development surrounding the postponing of the February 16th election.
According to him, “Anybody who decides to snatch boxes or lead thugs to disturb the election, maybe that would be the last unlawful action you would take. I have given the military and police the order to be ruthless.
I am going to warn anybody who thinks he would lead a body of thugs in his locality to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system; he would do it at the expense of his/her own life,”
Meanwhile some Nigerians have supported the statement credited to the president as timely and would serve as deterrent to would-be ballot box snatchers and election riggers.
In his reaction, Mr Ifeoluwa noted, “In fact, I am happy to hear this, whoever that does that (snatch boxes) should not live to witness another election. Hard decisions need to be taken.”
Oluwafemi Adeniyi, “You are angry because Buhari issued death threat to election riggers and ballot box snatchers. The question is do you have plans to rig or snatch ballot box? If you do, you bullet is cooling off in arm arsenal.”
Adagiri Abdulrasheed stated, “A clear message to my fellow youth. Don’t allow yourself to be used to snatch ballot boxes.”
Mr Franky Nnanna objected, noting “very ugly situation here, election (sic) offenders are to be tried in court of law not at the expense of their life…”
Mr Femi Jacobs also noted: Very careless rhetoric. Very very careless. No one who’s discerning can deny that there is already simmering tension in the country.
The EiE Nigeria decried the statement and noted, “That No One in the APC during the meeting could correct Buhari on a statement that gives security agencies permission to kill at will causes grave concerns for a free, fair and credible election”.
