PDP: W hy Opposit ion is against Deploy ment of Military for Elections

The ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party ( PDP) has described the All Progressives Congress ( APC) opposition to the use of the military during next month’s general elections as part of hidden agenda to throw the country into chaos and take Nigeria back to the 1966 and 1968 civil war era.

Also, the PDP accused the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, as the master mind of the crisis plaguing the state, alleging that the Rivers state government was plotting to release cultists on waiting trial so that they could be used as political thugs during the election.

Addressing newsmen at the weekend, the deputy national chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Second us, said that the military had never been used or stationed at the polling stations during elections, but strategically deployed to maintain peace.

He explained that bearing in mind the violent nature of elections, especially in the run off to the 2015 general elections, where streets urchins attack the convoy of President Goodluck Jonathan and other PDP campaign rallies, it was in the national interest to deploy military officers in some strategic places during the elections.

According to Prince Second us, “Deployment of the military during elections is not new. It isn’t new, it has been done before, soldiers aren’t involved in elections, but they are kept in strategic places to safeguard the nation. Whoever that is afraid of the security provided by the army or the police and want to have their own private army to conduct the election, is the one that wants to throw this country into crisis. Don’t forget that the United States has predicted that there would be no country in 2015, God forbid. The PDP supports the government to make sure that Nigerians are secured. Remember what happened in the First Republic, ‘ Wild, Wild West’. No one is ready for that.

“The APC said the army was used in Ekiti, they weren’t used. The report from the elections monitors showed clearly that it was free and transparent. The army was never found at the polling booth but they were strategically located for the unforeseen. The military are not deployed in the polling units, but in some strategic units in the states for overall security.”

On the continued crisis in the state and the latest series of bombing in Okrika, the PDP deputy national chairman, said, “The crisis in Rivers State is Amaechi. You journalists should go and investigate. He shut down the courts, he shut down the state assembly and he is now the sole administrator and maximum leader and the people are resisting. Salaries aren’t paid as at when due, the state fund being taken away to sponsor Buhari. Our jet now is owned by Buhari. Where in this world is it done that people are happy? So, all the news of crisis is being generated by Amaechi, because he has lost the state and he sustains himself on the pages of newspapers. So, Amaechi is the problem.

“Of course, you recall a governor of a state, there was a fight in the State Assembly. Take for instance the National Assembly here if they have dis- agreement and the President moves from Villa to the National Assembly and be a partaker in what is going on there. But the governor of Rivers State who is the architect of the crisis moved from Government House to House of Assembly and took side. You people should do your investigation and report accurately. Tell him to stop. The Okrika matter that you talked about, it is APC versus APC, but Amaechi is orchestrating it as if it is PDP, even bringing the name of the wife of the President.”

Still accusing Governor Amaechi of the crises that have engulfed the state, Second us stressed further, “What is important to him now as a Director General is how APC will win and he has abandoned governance, because when the state assembly doors are closed, judiciary which is the third arm of government is locked down, then where is the government?

“Have you seen in this country, where a governor would present a budget one day and an hour after, that budget is approved. Is that not a shame! And the man will come on air and say he is a democrat. You people know the facts and you aren’t reporting it!”

He also cautioned against the continued denigration of the military by the APC, stating, “the Military in Nigeria remains the main foundation of national security and therefore should not be dragged into partisan politics.”