"Rivers State" Nigeria's Most Deadly State-- Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, dubbed Rivers State as Nigeria’s most deadly state, even as he offered profuse apologies for the ill-tempered elections conducted under his watch in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers states. Speaking at the first National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abuja this year, the president said the administration had so far raked N3 trillion into the Treasury Single Account, TSA. President Muhammadu Buhari, APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Speaker Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara and APC Deputy National Chairman North, Senator Lawal shuiabu during APC NEC meeting at the Headquarters in Abuja.

The president, who spoke amid a tight security cordon mounted at the APC national secretariat, urged party supporters to stay the course, saying that progress was being made on all fronts, from the economy to the security situation in the country. Buhari nevertheless charged Nigerians to rise to the situation as he particularly charged militants in the Niger Delta that continuous sabotage of oil facilities was doing the people more harm than good. The president, who appealed for understanding from party members also dismissed  allegations from critics that he had turned a globetrotter. Earlier in his welcome address, the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said challenges  facing the administration were inherited from the preceding administration and the collapse of the price of oil in the international market. He charged party faithful to stand boldly with the administration in facing the challenges.

Odigie-Oyegun also disclosed that a committee had been constituted to reorganise the membership of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the party, a sign that inevitably indicated that the scheduled inauguration next week would be put on hold. The tight security around the meeting venue was also not unconnected to alleged plans by some members of the NEC to disrupt the meeting upon claims of marginalisation of some members of the NEC. Giving notice of the progress made in security, the president commended the party for recommending the removal of the military hierarchy inherited from the preceding administration, saying the decision helped to raise the morale of the military.

Noting that the decision helped to ensure complete control of all 774 local government areas in the country, he admitted that though the insurgents do not hold any local government, they still have the ability to strike at soft targets. Niger Delta On conflicting signals from Niger Delta militants, the president said: “Some have said they are ready to drop their arms and join the rest of the nation to build it. But part of them are still sabotaging installations which is making investments in that lucrative area of Nigeria difficult because nobody will submit his riches to financial institutions, get money only to suffer huge loss. “So, the environment for investment is being sabotaged by ourselves, Nigerians. We are doing our best with the military by trying to persuade them to join the rest of the country because in unity lies our strength.

Charging Nigerians to sustain the democratic enterprise through maintaining their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, the president offered profuse apologies for the ill-tempered elections held in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers states. “I am afraid I did not succeed in the election in Kogi, Bayelsa, Rivers. I think that more Nigerians are killed or killed themselves in Rivers than in any particular state. At this stage of our political development, to remain brutal is shameful and as a government, I promise we will do something by the next general election.