Soldiers Should Not Supervise Elections – Atiku Abubakar

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged the federal government

to reconsider the policy of deploying soldiers to supervise elections

in the country.

He said this is to protect the neutrality of the military and to stop

exposing them to undue politicisation.

Atiku  in a statement by his media office in Abuja, yesterday, said

with the security challenges brought on by terrorism, the nation’s

military should be allowed to concentrate on its immediate tasks and

challenges so as not to lose focus.

“The attention of the military should not be diverted to politics when

terrorists are posing the greatest threat to our national security,”

Atiku said.

Speaking apparently in respect to the forthcoming gubernatorial

elections in Ekiti and Osun states, former Vice President Atiku

explained that the frequent deployment of soldiers to supervise the

conduct of elections in the country may potentially affect its

credibility.

Atiku recalled that the militarisation of President Jonathan’s home

state of Bayelsa prior to the last governorship election in the

country has left a blemish that is difficult to erase in the annals of

the country’s young democracy.

He stressed that in the absence of extraordinary emergency situation,

there is no justification for dragging soldiers into politics.

He also noted that gun-wielding soldiers at polling stations obscure

the new democratic order in the country and that any interaction

between soldiers and politicians at political activities such as

voting would not be good for any democracy.

The former vice president, however, said an adequately equipped and

well motivated police could maintain law and order at polling stations

during elections.