Jonathan, military combination, dangerous to democracy – APC

The All Progressives Congress has described the "unholy" alliance
between the President Goodluck Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party
administration, and the Nigerian military hierarchy as the greatest
threat to the nation's democracy.
The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said this
at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday.
He explained that recent events which preceded the shift of the date
of the general elections from February 14 and 28 by six weeks was a
pointer to this fact.
According to him, the hierarchy of the military had been compromised
to serve the interest or the personal agenda of President Jonathan.
The APC chairman said it was unheard of anywhere in the world that the
military hierarchy would write a joint letter to an independent
electoral body in a democracy; to state that it was incapable of
providing security for an election.
Odigie-Oyegun said, "The greatest threat to our democracy today is the
way the ruling party has compromised the leadership of the Nigerian
military to serve the personal agenda of President Jonathan. This is a
dangerous game.
"A recent court judgment in Sokoto clearly ruled that the military had
no role in the electoral process. What happened with this postponement
is that service chiefs simply vetoed a democratic process on the
directive of President Jonathan. We know what politicisation is doing
to our once proud military institution.
"We are aware that the Presidency has forwarded a secret memo to all
commanders of divisions and battalions of the Nigerian Army for a
three-day strategy meeting in Kaduna from today (Monday) on how to use
the military to intimidate voters in the APC states to rig election in
favour of President Jonathan."
The opposition party also explained that the recent revelations about
the role of the military in the Ekiti State elections was a
demonstrable proof of how far Jonathan government would go to
compromise the military as an institution.
Odigie-Oyegun wondered if it could be that when the service chiefs
said they would not have enough personnel to provide security for the
elections, "what they are actually saying is that they would not have
enough soldiers to intimidate voters in favour of the ruling party if
the elections had proceeded as scheduled?"
The party's national chairman noted that it was the party's
preliminary reaction to the postponement of the 2015 general
elections, it noted that the decision taken by the Independent
National Electoral Commission had thrown up so many questions which he
said would be reviewed by the organs of the party.
He recalled that on the January 22, the National Security Adviser,
Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), at Chatham House, London had declared that
INEC was not ready for the elections and went ahead to advise the
electoral body to postpone the election.
Odigie-Oyegun pointed out that the reason Dasuki gave for his
unsolicited advice was that substantial number of registered voters
had not collected their Permanent Voter Cards.
He also observed that Dasuki did not say anything about security
concern even though Boko Haram was an issue then as it was even now.
"So, at what point did concern over election shift from PVC to
security concern?" Odigie-Oyegun asked.
The APC also recalled that when the United States Secretary of State,
John Kerry, visited on January 25, he wanted a categorical commitment
from President Jonathan that the elections would hold as scheduled.
The President, he noted, assured the American envoy that the elections
would hold.
"Was it that his security chiefs had not briefed him on the security
situation in the country and how this would affect the election
timetable at the time he was making this promise?" Odigie-Oyegun
wondered.
Odigie-Oyegun equally drew the attention of Nigerians as well as the
international community to the fact that on February 2 at the National
Peace Committee meeting in Abuja with the representatives of different
political parties, the service chiefs gave assurances of their
readiness for the elections.
At the occasion, the APC chief said the Chief of Defence Staff, Air
Marshall Alex Badeh, gave assurances of the Armed Forces preparedness
for the elections. Odigie-Oyegun quoted Badeh as saying "even though
we are busy in the North-East, we also have capabilities across the
nation."
He added that Badeh also admitted that the role of the military was
merely to support the police in providing security during elections.
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The APC chief added, "At the same event, the Chief of Army Staff, Gen.
Kenneth Minimah said, 'We are aware of the need for security, before,
during and after the elections. We will deploy across the states of
the Federation in areas we discover that have capacity for violence.
We are prepared to ensure we have peaceful elections.
"Also speaking at the event, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall
Adesola Amosun, said, 'We have commenced the air lift of the materials
needed for the elections, starting from Abuja. We will continue with
the elections.'"
Oyegun argued that, "The sum total of all these is that only 12 days
before the elections and despite the state of insecurity in the
North-East, the entire military high command assured the nation of
their readiness to provide security for the elections.
"However, only three days later on Friday, February 6, these same
service chiefs wrote to INEC a letter, which by all practical purposes
could be described as a blackmail, saying that they would no longer be
able to provide security for the elections? What happened in those 72
hours that brought about this complete volte face?"
The party accused President Jonathan and the Director of the National
Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, of deliberately engaging in
scare-mongering to cow Nigerians into submission by their conducts and
utterances over the state of the nation's security.
Odigie-Oyegun said the APC as a political party, "wishes to assure
Nigerians and friends of Nigeria all over the world that the power of
the people is greater than the people in power adding that "these too
shall pass and we shall overcome."
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