Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari not to use the military to intimidate Nigerians from exercising their franchise.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, Adams insisted that the use of military during the elections is arbitrary, describing it as a ploy to undermine Nigeria’s democracy.
“We are not in a Banana Republic , whereby the FG will, strategically, foist the military on us during elections. I agree there are security challenges across the country, however, nobody can use that as a ploy to use military to undermine our democracy. What we are experiencing since last Saturday is not too good for us as a nation because some politicians have perfected their plans to truncate this democracy through the back door. The whole world is watching us. Many of us put our lives on the line for us to have this democracy. Many people lost their lives for us to have this democracy. Our democracy came with a lot of sacrifices. In a civilised clime,the police and the civil defence are usually used to monitor elections while the military is used during wars. The coming election is not a war, so why the directives to use military to monitor election processes? This is scary and their presence will definitely lead to chaos. This election should be peaceful, free and fair. We don’t want bloodbath, however, with this development, I have a feeling that many Nigerians will be disenfranchised and that can taint Nigeria’s image and it will also send a wrong signal to the international community”, he said.
Adams, however, urged Nigerians not to be intimidated with the activities of the military, saying election is never a do or die affair, noting that the future of Nigeria is secured with a free and fair election, adding that anything short of a free and fair election will be distrastrous.
