FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS Carlos Orji, Olayinka Illimitadough Marinho, etc all those who think that the presidency was solely intent on running smooth, free and fair election wait until the CLEEN foundation and HRW publish their reports. If you have ear of Mr Jega ask him in a quiet moment about his thoughts on the matter. The EU observers have already said that there was enough malpractise to warrant a court case. At 1100 on election Saturday, troops who had been sent back the barracks were redeployed to disperse the crowds surrounding the Osogbo INEC office as the Abuja powers would not allow the result to be announced (that came straight from the top). Luckily, common sense prevailed and the soldiers let the people protect their votes and mayhem was avoided. WE CANNOT KEEP TURNING A BLIND EYE OR WE WILL TURN AROUND ONE DAY AND Brigadier, Sargent whatever will be back in control, wildly reversing the nation down the hill of progress. The issue goes beyond the partiality of the armed forces. My position is that soldiers have no role to play in the conduct of elections. It is the constitutional duty of the police to maintain law and order during elections. Even the Department of State Service is an undercover security apparatus to gather intelligence, detect crimes and pass information to the police. I am saying without any fear of contradiction that no law in Nigeria allows any security man to wear masks. That was the first time in the history of Nigeria that masked security operatives were involved in elections. Beyond the condemnation of the partisan stand of the Armed Forces, the Nigerian people should insist that each security agency is restricted to its jurisdiction. - Femi Falana
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 07:25:23 +0000
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