Osun polls: Militarising elections in Nigeria

Polling booth

Falana

After the just concluded Ekiti State elections, where political observers noticed heavy presence of security agents, especially of soldiers, people had kicked against such waste of man-power of security offices, in view of the need of such soldiers at northern part of the country to defend Nigeria from the continual onslaught of the Boko Haram members.

Although Ekiti State election was perceived as free and fair, but some people have described it as, “terrorism of the federal might.”

Despite some short comings associated with Ekiti polls, many Nigerians decided to move on and wait for the Osun State elections.

The waiting is almost over, as the election, which is basically between Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress(APC) and Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples’ Democratic Party(PDP), is billed to take place tomorrow.

But several Nigerians appeared not to be happy with what they are already seeing in Osun State. It is the intimidating presence of different security agencies in the state. It was gathered that different security agents, in different shades of uniforms, have been trouping into the state since last week.

Indeed, someone said: “You’ll think a war is going on in Osun State.”

Debo

Suraju

Concerned by recent developments in Nigeria, especially by the now frequent presence of soldiers in states where elections would be taking place, Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) and Journalist for Democratic Rights (JODER) decided to jointly organize a ‘Save Nigeria’s Democracy Roundtable,’ to provide a platform for civil society and other key stakeholders of the Nigerian democracy project to come together and discuss critical issues bordering on the survival of democracy in Nigeria.

Barrister Femi Falana (SAN), who was one of the guest speakers at the event, spoke vehemently on the Nigeria Police and freedom of expression, further describing the use of soldiers in elections as, ‘militarisation of elections.’

Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju of CSNAC said: “The deployment of federal might to crush or restrict opposition as exemplified by the massive deployment of police and security forces in Ekiti State during the governorship election in June and the ongoing militarisation and show of force by unwarranted security personnel deployed for the forthcoming Osun State governorship election of August 9, doesn’t portend well for Nigeria.

“The frequent use of the police and other security agencies to suppress dissent and intimidate opposition, in particular, the abridgment of groups’ fundamental rights to exercise their freedom of expressions, particularly, through peaceful assembly, protest and dissent, all portend coming disaster with regards to the security, integrity and credibility of the electoral process and the survival of democracy in Nigeria.”
NT gathered that about 41,000 security personnel, including members of the Nigerian Civil Defence Service Corps (NCDSC), have been drafted to Osun State. Soldiers alone are about 12,000, while Department of State Security agents are over 5000.

A police source claims: “Divisional Police Officers(DPO) from Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, and Edo States were mandated by powers from above to submit three policemen for the Osun polls, on the expenses of the DPO. Two DPO lamented to me, asking where they were expected to get money to sponsor policemen from their stations.”

Falana, who is bitterly against the use of soldiers in elections, said that soldiers were beginning to take over the duty of the police. He explained that according to the constitution, all security agencies have their duties spelt out for them. The soldiers, he said, were supposed to protect the integral territory of the county and anything aside from that was an aberration.

This was even as he insisted that the State Secret Service (SSS), changing to Department of State Security (DSS) was illegal.

He added: “Now soldiers are doing police work and nobody is saying anything about it. The police have been abandoned. Aside from mounting road blocks in Ekiti State during the election, where they collected money, soldiers played no role in the Ekiti election. It was still the police that made arrests.

“The essence of militarising elections is to intimidate the opposition. Obasanjo started it. Soldiers are supposed to protect the country. Soldiers do not guarantee free and fair elections. Soldiers have no business with elections. The numbers of soldiers we had in Ekiti State election, we didn’t have such in north east, where they’re needed. True, nobody wants to die. They run away from Boko Haram because money meant for them are cornered by senior officers. I noticed that soldiers sent to Ekiti had no name tags on their uniforms. It’s not about election, but the entire process of doing things.”

The Coordinator of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) in Nigeria, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said that right now, Osun State has been turned into a military barrack.

He added: “The state has been turned into a barrack. Whatever they do, they should not harass people into not being able to enjoy their freedom of movement. Soldiers in the state curtail people’s movement. Why should Osun people’s movement be restricted? And why are some of the security agents wearing face masks? What are the masks for? Nigeria can’t see democracy unless there’s revolution. It’s either bloody revolution or not. The administration of Jonathan has condoned everything negative.

“The militarisation of election is happening because they want to create crisis! The soldiers are there, not to protect anybody, but to protect those who want to rig the elections. Soldiers should be far away from the election. Let them go back to their barracks.”

Another lawyer, Barrister Wahab Shittu chirps in, “Deployment of soldiers in election is unconstitutional. It’s an attempt to subvert the will of the people. What are the police doing, if soldiers are there? The police are supposed to ensure that the election goes well.”

Lampooning  the change of SSS to DSS, Falana spat: “We have SSS, not DSS. It’s illegal! DSS was part of the military. DSS is not known under our law or constitution.”