Global Concerns Mount over Army Interference in Election - THISDAYLIVE via thisdaylive
APC wins Lagos, Gombe, Kebbi, Kwara, Niger, Jigawa, Ogun, KatsinaFollowing the massive and unprecedented deployment of troops, Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Surveillance aircraft across the country by military authorities during the general election, especially in the Niger Delta states of Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom, there were global concerns that Nigeria’s democracy was being militarised.
On its part, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room condemned the conduct of the military in the elections and called for an independent inquiry into the conduct of the elections in order to unearth the anomalies that affected its credibility and those responsible for the malpractices recorded during the poll.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with THISDAY, Defence spokesman, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, reiterated its earlier position that the role of the military was not under speculation but constitutional. “Appeal Court judgment; nobody has availed me of that judgment. We are not aware of it. Where is it? If there was any appeal court judgment, was it to the military, armed forces or the government of the day?” he queried.
He explained further: “For instance, if somebody wants to infiltrate a collation centre, we are the first line of defence that they are going to meet and in the cause of interaction, maybe an official does not come with his ID card and he wants to force his way in, there will be issues and in the process people will begin to insinuate.
In a statement entitled: “Arming of Thugs by Politicians to Impersonate Military Personnel,” it said the situation has led to an erroneous impression that real soldiers were involved in their nefarious activities. “However, several of such arrested impostors have given useful information that has led to unraveling the level of criminal involvement of some politicians in arming thugs for their depraved selfish gains. Consequently, the NA would continue with the line of investigations being pursued to bring to successful prosecution, both the arrested impostors and their sponsors.”
Ologbondiyan stressed that what the APC and its compromised soldiers fail to note is that the PDP already has valid documents of all the results as delivered from all the polling units where elections held across the state and that the figures are with all the stakeholders. In a statement read to journalists at a press conference held yesterday in Abuja, the Executive Director, Policy & Legal Advocacy Centre and Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Mr. Clement Nwankwo, said an independent inquiry is needed to address among other issues; procurement, logistics management, role of the military and abuse of process by INEC officials.
Situation Room said the militarisation of the country’s electoral process is a troubling one, adding that it was not just the presence of military officials, but the actions of the intelligence agencies, the use of the military by the political class and the partisanship and non-recourse to rules of engagement of the armed forces.
“INEC officials and security agents, who have suffered physical and psychological injuries, must be supported and rehabilitated.” However, results of the elections began to trickle in yesterday morning with Resident Electoral Commissioners announcing the winners in their respective states. Unconfirmed reports had it that soldiers had taken over the collation centre in the state, ordering the staff of the commission to hand over the election results from the field to them.
“Consequently, at a meeting held today, March 10, 2019, the commission has decided to suspend all electoral processes in the state until further notice. This is in line with Section 26 of the Electoral Act, 2010 and Clause 47 of the Regulations and Guidelines of the Commission. The party also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately call the security agencies, which it said had been annexed as departments of the APC, to end their siege on the electoral process, noting that any further delay was a recipe for escalation of crisis in the country.
The party also cautioned INEC to note that a lot of innocent Nigerians have allegedly been killed by the APC in its desperation to forcefully take over the state. “Now, it is about 1p.m., the office is under siege by men in military uniform, Army uniform and uniform of the Air Force and the police, who have taken over the INEC office.
Sanwo-Olu polled 739,445 votes to beat his closest rival, Mr. Jimi Agbaje of the PDP who had 206,141 votes. The returning officer and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Lokoja, Angela Miri, announced that Bello polled 526,412 votes to defeat Nasko who had 298,065 votes.The Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Muhammad Badaru was also returned to office for a second term. The Returning Officer, Prof.
“We congratulate Mr. Seyi Makinde for his victory. We also salute the doggedness and resilience of the people of Oyo State in standing up to the APC rigging machine, including its army of occupation.”The PDP’s Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State has been declared winner of the state’s contest. The INEC Returning Officer in the state, Prof. Benjamin Ozurumba, said Ikpeazu scored 261,127 votes to win the poll.
The state Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of Usman Danfodio University Sokoto, Prof. Abdullahi Zuru, declared governor Masari winner of the election and returned him as duly elected.In Ogun, INEC declared Prince Dapo Abiodun of the APC as winner of the governorship contest.
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