Buhari Speaks: Elections will Hold in 2023, Persons Behind Violence will Be Treated in Their Own Language Soon

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday suggested his administration has no third term agenda and will do its best to ensure elections hold across the country despite increasing violence.

The President made the comment after receiving the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu and other electoral commissioners at the State House in Abuja. INEC facilities across the country have recently come under attack.

In the last four weeks, 11 offices of the commission have been either set ablaze or vandalized, according to INEC chief, Professor Yakubu. “I received a briefing today from the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on the series of attacks on their facilities nationwide,” Buhari said.

“These attacks are totally unacceptable, and we will not allow those behind them to achieve their evil objectives. “I have assured INEC that we will make available to them everything they need to operate efficiently, so that no one will say we don’t want to go, or that we want a third term. There will be no excuse for failure. We will meet all of INEC’s demands.”

In the same vein, President Buhari issued a stern warning to those plotting to destroy Nigeria, saying they will soon receive the shock of their lives, saying the Federal Government has given the perpetrators enough time.

“I receive daily security reports on the attacks, and it is very clear that those behind them want this administration to fail,” the President was quoted as saying via a statement issued by his spokesman, Femi Adesina. “Insecurity in Nigeria is now mentioned all over the world. All the people who want power, whoever they are, you wonder what they really want. Whoever wants the destruction of the system will soon have the shock of their lives. We’ve given them enough time.”

While recalling that hat he visited all the 36 states of the country before the 2019 general elections, Buhari said: “Majority of the people believed me, and the election proved it.” He promised to continue leading the country in accordance with constitutional provisions, adding that those misbehaving in certain parts of the country were obviously too young to know the travails and loss of lives that attended the Nigerian Civil War. He added, “Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand. We are going to be very hard sooner than later.”

The President said the Service Chiefs and the Inspector-General of Police have been changed, “and we will demand security from them.”