·     Says ‘$16bn power projects’: We will get our money back

By: Ikenna Oluka

President Muhammadu Buhari has hinted on probing the $16bn allegedly spent on the power sector during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said this at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential rally in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital, on Tuesday.

PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar was Obasanjo’s deputy from 1999-2007 when the money was allegedly spent

Buhari said: “The previous government mentioned on their own that they spent 16 billion American dollars for power. But you are better witnesses than myself.

“Where is the power? Where is the money? We will follow them and eventually God willing we will get them and we will get our money back.”

However, speaking at a meeting with at the secretariat complexes of the Councils of Traditional Rulers of Rivers and Bayelsa states, the president said: “I assure you that I’m all out for free, fair and credible elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC knows my stand on this.

“Nigerians are assured of free and fair elections. Under this leadership, nobody will be allowed to intimidate other citizens. Nobody will be allowed to snatch ballot boxes and run with them. I will make sure that the votes count.”

Buhari commended the introduction of the Permanent Voters Card, PVC and Card Reader, and urged the nation to embrace the technology, arguing that without it, the sixteen years of misrule by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP would not have been brought to an end.

“In 16 years, the PDP thought nobody could remove them from office. The introduction of the PVC and Card Reader made sure that our votes counted in 2015 and the votes of Nigerians will count in 2019,” he stressed.