Why I challenged 2003, 2007, 2011 polls in court – Buhari

President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday explained why he went to court to challenge results of the presidential elections he lost in 2003, 2007 and 2011.  Buhari, who  stated this when Delta State All Progressives Congress members visited him in Abuja, said he took the decision because he believed Nigeria must be free.

Buhari said,

“Going through the court is not easy, both materially and physically, and I maintained that consistency because my view about my country is that Nigeria should be truly free.”

He condoled with the delegates over the killing of some people during the last general elections.

The president-elect added, “I understand why many of you, who were denied the opportunity to choose those you want to represent and lead you  are taking the line I took in the last 12 years  in line with our constitution.

“Whether you get it or not, the most important thing is that you believe in the system and you should continue to try until the system is perfect.

“I express my condolence to you for the people murdered and I assure you that my objective of remaining consistently in partisan politics is to make sure that Nigerians are given their inherent right  to choose whoever they want to lead them.”

The president-elect said he would never support anybody who undermined that right of Nigerians.

He added that arming unemployed youths and sending them to kill their own people was the worst thing anybody, aspiring to leadership, could do.

According to him, he will concentrate on what Nigerians would be proud of, adding that Nigerians would be respected. Buhari explained that the first objective of the APC would be security, adding that insecurity destroys the economy. The leader of the delegation and the APC governorship candidate in the state,  Olorogun Otega Emerhor, alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party disenfranchised the people of Delta State and the South-South at both the presidential and governorship elections.

He stated,

“As our submission to the tribunal in respect of the governorship and state Assembly elections will demonstrate, in truth, majority of Deltans were ready for the change you represent and were geared to vote massively for you and APC.

“Unfortunately, a grand design executed by the PDP in the South -South and South-East and particularly  Delta,  Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, made sure that no proper elections took place.”

He alleged that  result sheets were confiscated and results fabricated, alleging that PDP resorted to violence and intimidation.

Emerhor said,

“Our election petition shows that while announced voter accreditation was over 1,017,796, the actual card reader accreditation report shows only 709,700. “As you are aware, Delta State, along with Akwa Ibom and Rivers states are rich in oil resources and the PDP is determined to hold on to these states at all cost in order to utilise the huge revenue base of these states to re-launch itself to national reckoning.