On February 2nd,Nigerian Security Chiefs,said
the military was ready for the general elections expected to commence on
February 14 with the Presidential and National Assembly elections.The Service
Chiefs said, that all the logistic problems that had affected the 2011
elections had been taken care of to ensure that the elections go as scheduled.
Specifically, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola
Amosun said; “We have commenced the airlift of the materials needed for the
elections starting from Abuja, we will continue with the elections. The whole
spectrum of the elections would be involved. It was logistics problems that
made us to postpone the election four years ago, it is not going to happen
again, we are already ahead of the game.
“We have a lot of unmanned airports in Nigeria, we have
already deployed our men, we are going to man those airports. So, should we
have saboteurs planning to use any of those airfields, it will be difficult for
them. We are going to block all those unmanned airfields. We have already
deployed and set up our soldiers to man those airfields. Those are the areas we
may have linkages, the airport security, we are already ahead of the game to
man the airfields to stop those that will want to bring in illegal materials
into the country.”
The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, said,
“We are not directly involved in elections and electioneering but before the
elections, we deploy will our personnel across the nation to assist civil
powers and authority. 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 and should there be any 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.”
Chief of Army Staff General Kenneth Minimah said, “We are
aware of the need for security before, during and after the elections. We will
deploy across the states of the federation, in areas we discover that have
capacity for violence. We are prepared to ensure we have a peaceful election. I
appeal 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, no individual or groups should take the laws into their hands. We
want the nation to have peace after this election.”
The former Head of State, Genera Abdulsalam Abubakar who
is the Chairman of National Peace Committee for the 2015 elections “I have been
involved in a lot of peace talks. It is sad when you go round Africa and see
the kind of injuries inflicted on people as a result of electoral violence. We
appeal to Nigerians to eschew violence. 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. We are not
taking these threats lightly; we have noted the various utterances.”
The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Suleiman Abba said
that the military will have no business to be at the polling booths as it was
not its responsibility. He also noted that the support for the civil authority
by the military is statutorily provided as it was constitutionally provided in
Section 217, adding that the military has the responsibility to support the
civil society in maintaining internal security.
Chairman, Vanguard Media Limited, who is a member of the
committee, Mr. Sam Amuka, in an interview “we should be wary of publishing some
statements that can provoke anger and lead to violence.”
“there is no way you won’t bash the media. If you make a
statement and the media does not give it attention, how many people will hear
it. So the mass media have an important role, to preserve the peace of the
country.” Mr. Amuka said
Source:Vanguard
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