‘We’re ready for trouble-makers’
By John Oba
Abuja
Service Chiefs have ruled out the need for the postponement of election as is currently being canvassed in some quarters.
They declared this yesterday while briefing the members of the National Peace Committee on 2015 Elections on the preparedness of the Armed Forces for the forthcoming elections.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, said though the military was not directly involved in the elections and electioneering, it had deployed its men across the nation to assist civil powers.
He said: “During the elections, as we have done in other states, we also ensure that people are not used to go and cause trouble or mayhem.
“After the elections, should there be disturbances, we will assist the police. The military will deploy as much as we can across the nation. Even though we are busy in the North-east, we also have capability across the nation.
“The Chief of Naval Staff will be busy around the creeks, the Chief of Air Staff is working with INEC, but will also deploy troops,” he assured.
In his remarks, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, said the military was prepared to ensure peaceful elections.
He called to politicians to obey the rules of the game and advise their followers to respect the laws of the land as stipulated in the Electoral Act and the Constitution, adding that no individual or groups should take the law into their hands.
Also speaking, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, assured that the Air Force has commenced the movement of election materials across the country.
Blueprint reports that the military had deployed men to man the airfields with the view of making it difficult for saboteurs to import illegal materials into the country.
Addressing the committee led by a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), in Abuja, Amosu said: “We have commenced the airlift of materials needed for the elections, starting from Abuja; we will continue into the whole spectrum of the election. We would be involved.
“It was logistics problem that made us postpone the election four years ago; it is not going to happen again. There will be no need for the postponement of the elections because we are already ahead of the game.
“We have a lot of unmanned airports in Nigeria. We have deployed our men to man these airfields and should there be saboteurs, it will be difficult for them to bring in illegal materials into the country.”
Addressing the press, Abdulsalami urged Nigerians to shun violence, saying it was not the politicians that inflict electoral violence but Nigerians.
He said: “We appeal to Nigerians to eschew violence. If we get involved in violence, people are maimed and infrastructure destroyed. Give peace a chance.
“The contestants signed an accord to maintain peace; we demand that their followers maintain peace. The media has a Herculean task to preach peace and avoid sensational reporting.”
He said the committee was aware of various inflammatory statements some politicians are making but that they are not taking it lightly and are working to ensure that they embrace peace, no matter the outcome of the election results.
He said: “We are not taking these threats lightly. We have noted the various utterances. Everybody has freedom of speech but there is a limit to which this freedom can be used.”
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, said: “I believe there must be country first before we have leader, there must be peaceful election first before leaders are elected and presented to us as our leader. There must be security agencies to provide peace and also encourage us to be a peace maker, before we have the peace.
“We have heard the commitment from security chiefs, but we all must play a collective role to ensure adequate security. If we don’t do that a little problem somewhere may trigger much more problem, and that is why we all must be security-conscious and report any suspicious move to the nearest police station.”