Today’s alarm by the Chief of Defence is, indeed, a wake-up call to all patriotic Nigerians, to the effect that desperate power mongers were on the prowl, in a determined bid to ensure that, rather than the people’s will, their sense of entitlement is foisted on the populace.”
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – A former Deputy Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Hon. Afam Victor Ogene, has charged Nigerians to steadfastly protect Nigeria’s democracy from desperate power mongers.
Ogene was reacting to the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor’s statement that security agencies are under pressure to rig elections on Thursday, December 8, 2022.
He said: “In fact, today’s alarm by the Chief of Defence is, indeed, a wake-up call to all patriotic Nigerians, to the effect that desperate power mongers were on the prowl, in a determined bid to ensure that, rather than the people’s will, their sense of entitlement is foisted on the populace.”
He expressed the view that only those in power can be behind the coercion in reference because “besides the party in power, and its enablers outside government, which other Nigerian has the temerity to attempt putting the country’s military and other security agencies under pressure to compromise the 2022 elections, as disclosed by General Irabor?”
Going further, he recalled that Nigerians have travelled this path before, when non-State actors bearing superfluous party titles openly interfered in the National Assembly presiding officers’ election in 2019 that produced Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and Sen. Ahmad Lawan as Speaker and Senate President respectively.
The Labour Party House of Representatives candidate for Ogbaru Federal Constituency in Anambra State, asserted that there is a correlation between recent statements made by top leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the statement made by Irabor.
“Although President Muhammadu Buhari’s assurances of neutrality – as further restated by General Irabor – is reassuring, this disclosure by the country’s military coming only two days after the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, took a swipe at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s insistence on the use of the Bimodal Voter’s Accreditation System, BVAS, still leaves some uncleared cobwebs.
“Could there be a nexus between Tinubu’s position of two days ago, his party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu’s attack on the same BVAS one week ago, and the latest disclosure by General Irabor?” Ogene queried.
He concluded that “these occurrences are not mere happenstance, nor unintended coincidences. Having deployed BVAS in the conduct of recent elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun – to the applause of all and sundry – it may be correct, after all, to situate the expressed fears for BVAS by the APC, and the alarm raised by General Irabor.”
Earlier on Thursday, Gen. Irabor disclosed that forces are putting security agencies under pressure to compromise the 2023 general elections.
Speaking at the State House, Abuja, he, however, assured Nigerians to have confidence in the Nigerian military as its officers and men will remain totally neutral and apolitical.