Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, Senior Special Adviser on Security to former Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State, on Monday urged youths in the Niger Delta to shun any act of violence and militancy.
Sara-Igbe, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers, told newsmen in Port Harcourt that youths should resist any attempt to lure them to go back to the creeks.
He said any attempt to resort to militancy would be crushed by the Federal government.
Sara-Igbe, a security expert, said Niger Delta people should learn from the way the government was dealing with Boko Haram and shun any plan to return to militancy.
According to him, any attempt to return to militancy in the Niger Delta, will be crushed by the Federal Government.
“So, the best we can do is to embrace the new government diplomatically, so that we can be part of it and have a voice,” he said.
Sara-Igbe commended President Goodluck Jonathan for conceding defeat, fulfilling a promise to conduct a free and fair election, and congratulating the president-elect.
He urged the Chairman of INEC to redeploy some of the Resident Electoral Commissioners in the states because they had been compromised.
He said there was need to reshuffle them to avoid the experience in some states during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Rivers: 124 Suspects Arrest Over Electoral fraud
In a crucial effort to prevent the incessant political killings across the nation, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Suleiman Abba, has said he is deploying more police personnel to Rivers State and other volatile states.
The Police boss, who stated this Tuesday during the IGP conference with the commands’ Commissioners of Police, said so far, three suspects have been arrested in Enugu in connection with the blast that took place during the presidential elections.
While appreciating the police for a job well done, Abba said 124 suspects were arrested for various electoral offences, adding that some had been charged to court while investigations continue in others.
In his words: “First of all, I must commend our officers and men for their performance in the last election. They exhibited high sense of professionalism, impartiality, and non-partisanship to a great level. We are here to encourage them to do more so that they don’t rubbish what they had already achieved.
“We are re-strategizing on the crime prevention and control and that is why we are deploying more officers to states like Rivers and other volatile ones. We have so far arrested three suspects in connection with the Enugu bomb blast and so far, we have arrested 124 people for different electoral offences”.
He however regretted that despite the fact that the police and other security agencies did their best to protect Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and other important places, as well the citizens, there were still pockets of challenges.
“Our coming together here today will proffer solution to these problems and we will ensure that they don’t crop up in the coming election”, he said.
Speaking on the allegation of suspected sabotage in the death of Kano Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Minkaila Abdullahi and some members of his family in an inferno, Abba said preliminary investigations revealed that it was a fire incident but that if subsequent investigations, especially medical reports, state otherwise, then the Police will get it across to the public.
Reacting to the supposed threat message by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu to Igbos in Lagos, the IGP said since the traditional ruler has denied the allegation, he was not in any position to state otherwise.
