The Nigerian Army has put paid to the speculations over its role in the coming elections, insisting that it will be involved to the extent allowed by law.
The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has mounted an unrelenting propaganda against the military insinuating a bias in favour of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In further of its plot to stop military participation in the elections, APC has been circulating a recorded voice which it purports to show that the military colluded with the PDP to rig Ekiti State governorship elections.
But the military appears to have dissed all the efforts of the opposition party, which has culminated in legal actions, as it says it will participate in the election within the admit of law.
The 2 Brigade Commander/Sector 2 Joint Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, Brig. Gen. Koko Essien, it will work with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the police to ensure there were no security breaches during the elections.
Essien told newsmen in Port Harcourt, River State, that the military and other security agencies would not condone any act of political thuggery during the poll.
While frowning on the security situation in Rivers State, the commander said that the military was strategising to ensure that the coming election was hitch free.
He urged the people and resident of the state to feel free to come out and exercise their franchise on the day of election, promising that adequate security measures would be put in place.
He said, “We will be involved in the election to the extent that is allowed by law. We are having meeting with INEC and we are going to support INEC based on the requirement of the law.
“We are going to support the police based on the areas they (police) are lacking. If the law says we are not going to be at the polling booths, we will not be there.
“We have had incidences of political thuggery. Different political groups have carried out certain actions that are inimical to the smooth conduct of the upcoming elections. Besides that, there has been some increase in the level of kidnapping on our waterways and sea piracy of course.
“So, we are seeing a trend whereby there is a lot of volatility in the security situation in Rivers State and we are doing everything and strategising to make sure that things work in the state.
“First of all, to make sure that people are able to live and go about their business and secondly, to reassure the population that come March 28 and April 11, 2015, people should feel very free to vote the candidates of their choice.
“The security services and specifically, the military will not condone any act of political thuggery or any action by anybody in the state aimed at frustrating well-meaning citizens from going out to vote during the elections.
“On the elections, we have a mandate to support for the election to provide security both on land and on the waterways based on the provisions of the constitution. We will do everything within our means to ensure that people are safe and vote without fears.
He said that the military was ready to fight cultism, kidnapping and sea piracy within the nation’s waterways before, during and after the poll.
On the issue of pipeline vandalism, he observed that a lot of stolen crude oil were being refined at illegal refineries, adding that oil thieves were now blowing up oil facilities.
Essien, however, said the JTF would continue to combat existing threats to protect the nation’s oil installations.
“The JTF has a mandate and that mandate stated clearly its objectives. People are so sophisticated now that they can do underwater welding. So, it means that based on existing and prevailing threats, we have to restrategise,” he said.
Similarly, the House of Representatives on Thursday suspended the debate on the deployment of military personnel for election purposes in the country.
The House had been considering the issue following a motion by its Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila (APC-Lagos).
In the motion, Gbajabiamila said it was unconstitutional for military personnel to be deployed for election duties in the country.
He also prayed the House to investigate the role of the military during the 2014 governorship elections in Ekiti.
He pointed out that the use of military personnel at election centres may intimidate the electorate.
According to him, the presence of military personnel in polling units and wards is capable of generating unwarranted apprehension that will scare away innocent citizens.
The lawmaker said that the action was capable of preventing voters from peacefully and willfully exercising their franchise.
In his contribution, Hon. Sunday Karimi (Kogi-PDP) said that the matter which the motion sought to address could not be debated because it was in court.
“This matter is still a subject of litigation at the Supreme Court,” Karimi said.
Ruling on the issue, the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, directed the Committees on Rules and Business, Judiciary and Justice, to advise him on the matter.
“In view of the sensitivity of the matter and the unfolding events in the country, please I want us to take this matter very seriously.
“I will therefore direct committees on Rules and Business, Judiciary and Justice to advice the speaker, and come back to the House on Tuesday,” Tambuwal said.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, warned on Thursday that any plot to exclude the military from the general election will give the APC an undue advantage during the polls.
The party noted that recent incisive statement from the opposition’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari were capable of discouraging voters from coming out to exercise their voting rights.
PDP also said that the APC was plotting to undermine security of lives and property in the course of the election by openly dragging the military into matters that are political.
“This has been confirmed by their vigorous campaign of calumny against the military and their consistent demand that soldiers must not be deployed for security surveillance at the polling booths in the forthcoming elections.
“The reason that the APC and its leaders do not want soldiers deployed is to be able to intimidate voters and unleash violence on the polity once they lose the elections.
“The basis on which the APC is agitating for the exclusion of soldiers from the election by sponsoring court cases is patently dubious and untenable.
“The reason that the APC and its leaders do not want soldiers deployed is to be able to intimidate voters and unleash violence on the polity once they lose the elections.
“They know that it would be far more difficult for them to do that when soldiers are on the streets.
The Rainbow, with reports
