Wike Cautions Army against Involvement in Politics

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has advised security agencies against participating in electoral malpractices, saying that such illegal actions lead to electoral violence.

The governor also declared that when a government was performing and popular with the people, it was difficult to use security forces to subvert the will of the people.

Wike spoke yesterday at the Government House, Port Harcourt when he granted audience to Major General Enobong Udoh, the General Officer Commanding the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army.

He noted that there was no loss of life during the Etche/ Omuma Federal Constituency supplementary elections because the Nigerian Army and Police did not participate in the snatching of electoral materials.

He noted that the violence that greeted previous elections were fallouts of the illegal actions of security agencies, which the people resisted.

He said: "The last supplementary elections were peaceful because the Nigerian Army showed maturity. I urge the Nigerian Police and DSS to emulate the Nigerian Army in their conduct.

"When a government is popular, there is nothing you can do about it. We are running a very popular government, so there is nothing that can be done to us".

He advised the security agencies to learn to operate within the confines of extant laws and also accept criticisms in good faith.

The governor assured the military of the sustained support in their determination to fight crime and criminality. He noted that the administration will continue to provide the military with the required logistics support to carry out their lawful duties.

He said: "As a government, we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian Army to fight kidnapping and cultism.