11th March, 2019
PRESS RELEASE:
WE
SUPPORT MILITARY PRESENCE DURING ELECTIONS
Members of Nigeria’s main
opposition party complained severally about the use of soldiers during the
presidential and gubernatorial elections which ended yesterday.
Reacting to this development, the
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a human rights organization, defended the use of
soldiers for elections in Nigeria. According to MURIC, the use of soldiers in
Nigeria’s elections has become mandatory.
“There are two main
reasons for which soldiers have to be used in elections these days. Firstly,
Nigerian politicians and voters are yet to attain the level of sophistication
of their counterparts in advanced countries. They are still neck-deep in
bolekaja mentality. The average Nigerian politician wants to win either by the
straights or by the bends. Our youth still allow themselves to be used for the
snatching of ballot boxes and the intimidation of opponents.
“The death toll would have been
higher while the pandemonium would have been worse had the government not
deemed it wise to involve the military. It is paradoxical that the same wailers
who complain of security lapses around the country are the first to object to
the use of soldiers who are capable of reducing security breaches to their
barest minimum.
“Secondly, the population
of the Nigerian police is not sufficient to guarantee adequate security. With a
population of 200 million, Nigeria cannot even boast of half a million
policemen yet. The total number of our police force as at 2015 was 317,000. Two
batches of recruitments have taken place since President Muhammadu Buhari took
over. His predecessor did not even care. The United Nations recommended at
least one policeman to every 448 persons. So Nigeria is still under-policed.
“Since Nigeria is yet to meet
global best practices in terms of policing the entire landmass, soldiers have
to be drafted in to make up for the deficit. But even this is not enough
because our soldiers are already overstretched. They are virtually everywhere
nowadays. They are in every spot where there is security threat: Zamfara,
Kaduna, Benue, South East and of course, the North East where they are keeping watchful
eyes on Boko Haram insurgents. Yet the military’s total number may not be more
than one-third of the total number of policemen!”
Professor Ishaq Akintola, the Director
of MURIC who signed the statement which was dated Monday, 11th
March, 2019, lamented the loss of lives in Saturday’s gubernatorial and state
assembly elections.
“It is regrettable that Nigerians
resorted to killing and maiming over the resolution of political issues. We
condemn the killings and all forms of violence which occurred during this and
other elections. It is callous, brutish and barbaric”.
Akintola also had an axe to grind
with critics of military involvement in elections.
“Those who are now criticizing
the Buhari regime for involving the military in the 2019 elections are either
being insincere or they are suffering from collective amnesia. Former President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan invaded the State of Osun with thousands of hooded
soldiers during the Osun election of 2014. He repeated the same thing in Ekiti
and in the 2015 general elections. The same people who are crying wolf today
applauded Jonathan’s use of soldiers. What goes around comes around.
“We are nonplussed that
the opposition complains of intimidation today. Have they forgotten so soon? Have
they forgotten how Jonathan used soldiers to out-Herod Herod in 2015? Soldiers
were permanently stationed in front of Chief Bola Tinubu’s house at Bourdillon,
Ikoyi during the 2015 elections. Lai Muhammed was arrested. The security aides
of opposition governors were withdrawn by Jonathan.
“For appointing Sanusi Lamido as Emir of Kano which was within
the rights and powers of the Kano State Government, Jonathan ordered security
agents to lay siege at the Emir's palace. For days, the Emir operated from the
Kano State Government House.
“Jonathan withdrew the security details attached to then
Governor Amaechi, grounded his plane forcing Amaechi to drive himself from Kano
to Abuja.
Sitting Governors were prevented from reaching a part of the
country to support the reelection of one of their own because they were in the
opposition.
“Yet wailers have the effrontery to complain of deployment of
soldiers to provide security during this 2019 elections. We contend that
soldiers deployed in this 2019 election were there for security, unlike
Jonathan’s soldiers who were used to rig election in Ekiti State. The
indubitable evidence of Ekitigate is still in the archives. Jonathan’s soldiers
also ambushed daily newspapers distributions. They were seized and destroyed
without explanation.
MURIC also sought the understanding of Britain and other foreign
governments on the issue of military’s involvement in election matters.
“We are appealing to our friends from outside Nigeria. There is
a need to understand the peculiarities of nations and their behavioral
patterns. Violence often accompanies elections in most African countries and
the governments of these countries have to control it by inviting soldiers
without necessarily having ulterior motives.
“On a final note, MURIC commends the professional conduct of
soldiers and police personnel during the 2019 elections. We recommend the
continued use of soldiers to maintain security during elections until Nigeria
comes of age in terms of political maturity and self-sufficiency in security.
Those who are wailing over the deployment of military personnel in the 2019
elections only need to turn the pages of history to 2014 and 2015”.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern
(MURIC)
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