2015 Polls: PDP Insists On Deployment Of Soldiers.
ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. February 20, 2015 (Leadership) — The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday insisted on the provision of adequate security, including deployment of soldiers, during the conduct of the rescheduled polls on March 28 and April 11.
The party’s national publicity secretary, Mr Olisa Metuh, stated this during a telephone interview with LEADERSHIP last night.
He, however, disclosed that the form it will take and the security agencies to be deployed rest squarely with relevant authorities and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“We want adequate security measures to be put in place for the polls. The deployment of security is for the INEC to decide. The PDP is not a security agency or the electoral umpire. Whatever INEC and the security agencies decide on the security agencies to be used, we are going to abide with,” Metuh said.
The PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) also spoke in similar vein yesterday, insisting on the use of the military for the general elections.
PDPPCO director of media and publicity, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, warned persons whose comments instigate violence during the elections that they will be dealt with by the federal government.
He said, “The attempt by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to discredit the use of soldiers by promoting some misleading audio footage of the so-called rigging during the Ekiti governorship election, in which one Captain Sagir Koli was the dramatis personae, is childish and absurd.
“The federal government deployed soldiers in the Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections and all those elections were devoid of violence. Remarkably, the APC won in Edo and Osun; APGA won in Anambra; Labour Party won in Ondo while PDP won only in Ekiti State.
“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,” he said, adding that his party was committed to peaceful elections and completely opposed to the option of violence.
APC: No, It’s For Rigging
But the All Progressive Congress [APC] has faulted the deployment of soldiers for election, saying that they may be used to compromise election since they have no role to play during elections following recent court judgements on the matter.
It alleged that the recent governorship poll in Ekiti where Governor Ayo Fayose of the PDP emerged winner was facilitated through rigging by soldiers, courtesy of the leaked video.
The presidential candidate of the APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, had in Abuja on Wednesday said that it was the responsibility of the police to ensure security during elections, not soldiers.
Asked whether he supports the deployment of military during elections, he said, “No, I do not support it. It is police duty and I think there is no local government area in this country without the police.”
The APC, had in a letter dated February 16, drawn the attention of President Goodluck Jonathan and the INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, to the January 29 judgement delivered by Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court, Sokoto, and the February 16 decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which outlawed the president’s right to unilaterally deploy the armed forces for election purposes.
