A leading pro-democracy and non-governmental
organization – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has waded
into the controversy trailing the activities of the Army during the Saturday
governorship polls with a call on politicians and stakeholders not to rubbish
the military institution by heaping unsubstantiated allegations.
However, HURIWA has on another breadth thrown
her weight behind the decision of the Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General
Tukur Yusuf Buratai to immediately activate effective mechanisms to
forensically investigate the series of trending online videos which appears to
indict some armed security forces on a number of serial electoral offences and
for instigating violence in Rivers Bayelsa and some of flashpoints in the crude
oil rich Niger Delta region. HURIWA told Nigerians that the leadership of the
Army has already established a good and qualitative antecedent as a no nonsense
hierarchy when in the not too distant time sanctioned about 38 senior military
officers who underwent investigative and military prosecutorial trial over
their alleged interferences in the year 2015 general polls. If this Army
hierarchy had done this it can always do the needful now that it has become
imperative for it to separate the few bad eggs from the professional
institution of the military if they are found guilty by the internal
investigative mechanisms. But we must be careful not to run down the military
institution which we took over 60 years to build. It is usually more difficult
to build but much easier to destroy.
HURIWA said the claim by the military
authority that there were incidents of fake soldiers that were deployed by
politicians during the governorship polls should not be dismissed with a wave
of hands since there are verifiable evidence that indeed hundreds of suspected
fake armed men masquerading as soldiers were picked up in Imo, Rivers, Ondo and
other areas and are currently being interrogated.
“We urge Nigerians to remember that the
institution of the Nigerian military is created by law to serve public interest
and so must be preserved and insulated from undue politically tainted
allegations that may not stand the test of time. We are not unaware of some
allegations by some governors in the Niger Delta accusing soldiers of collusion
to undermine democracy, but we must give the Army the benefits of the doubts
and assist the military institution to embark on holistic probe with the
objective of preserving their political neutrality and to build an enviable
professional institution that all of us and our children yet unborn would be
proud of. We must not allow our temporary and unbridle quest for political
power to lead us into the temptation of running down such a formidable
institution like the Nigerian Army because of the alleged malfeasance and misdemeanor
of a few undesirable elements who may have derailed from the time honoured
ethical and legal principles clearly listed out by the Chief of Army Staff on
the need to abide by Rules of engagement in internal security operations.” We
have a written proof that the Army has a mandatory manual on rules of
engagements in internal military operations in line with best global practices.
HURIWA reminded Nigerians that: “The Nigerian
Army said it got credible intelligence that kitting of political thugs with
military uniforms and arming them to impersonate soldiers.
We have seen photographic evidence in HURIWA
of these verifiable allegations by the Army
The spokesman of the Nigerian Army,
Colonel Sagir Musa in a statement said the thugs are sent to carry out crimes
in furtherance of the activities of their political bosses.
He said, “Sadly, these thugs have been
wrongly viewed and addressed as real military personnel on various social and
mainstream media channels including blogs, chat rooms and messaging platforms.”
Sagir said, “The Army understands that most
civilians caught in the callous onslaught of these murderous thugs might not be
able to distinguish between genuine soldiers from an impersonator, especially
when they are armed with military-type weapons.”
He said some arrested impostors have given
useful information that led to unraveling the criminal involvement of some
politicians in arming thugs for their selfish gains.
He said the Army would continue with
investigations so as to prosecute the arrested impostors and their sponsors.”
HURIWA stated that the military’s version of
the scenarios should be given a benefit of the doubts because for instance the
Imo State Police Command on Sunday paraded 103 suspects who allegedly
instigated violence and various electoral malpractices during the Governorship
and state Houses of Assembly elections held in the state on Saturday.
The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in
charge of Zone 9, Umuahia, Wilson Inalegwu, who is on election duty in the
state, said the suspects were arrested at various parts of the state.
Inalegwu said the arrests of the suspects
were carried out in conjunction with other security agencies.
The AIG said a team of crack police officers
had been instructed to take over the investigation process.
He listed some of the suspects as Onyekachi
Okeh, Success Ugochukwu, Ikenna Anochili, Uchenna Okwuoma, John Okechukwu and
Collins Amadi.
The AIG said, “It is based on the hard work,
commitment and determination as well as the robust partnership of all the
security agencies that led to the peaceful conduct of the election.”
“With collaboration from all the security
agencies, we ensured that serious chaos was averted on the Election Day.”
Finally, we appeal to Chief of Army staff to
convoke a transparent investigative panel including broad range membership to
include credible civil society leaders to investigate wide ranging allegations
made against the military from such credible nations like the United Kingdom
which on Sunday expressed concern over reports of military interference in the
governorship and assembly elections in Rivers state held on Saturday.
The UK High Commission in a tweet on its
verified twitter handle, @UKinNigeria, noted that reports by its independent
observers collaborated media reports of military interference in the electoral
exercise.
The High Commission while noting that it was
monitoring the situation very closely, called on relevant stakeholders to allow
staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, do their job
without harassment.
“We are extremely concerned by reports,
including from @UKinnigeria observers, of military interference in the election
process in Rivers State. Monitoring the situation closely. @inecng staff must
be allowed to do their job in safety, without intimidation,” the UK High
Commission wrote.
Reports of result confiscation are rife with
the ruling party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, accusing
military personnel of doing the bidding of the All Progressives Congress, APC,
to subvert the will of the people.
HURIWA also suggested that the military
should be restricted within military institutions and facilities during
elections with a view to be rapidly deployed to flashpoints of electoral
violence based on invitation from the police if the police is overwhelmed. This
it said will completely insulate them from being misused. HURIWA also asked the
Army Chief to sanction commanders on ground who cannot show cause why they
allowed fake soldiers to undermine the image and credibility of the military
institution.
Besides, HURIWA asked that some politicians
accused of abusing their privileged positions by allegedly parading about
during election with armed military/police should be arrested and prosecuted.
HURIWA pointed to media reported facts and
allegations which emerged on Sunday on how uniformed and plain-clothes security
operatives loyal to the former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill
Akpabio, allegedly battered some ad-hoc staff of the Independent National
Electoral Commission in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
A senior lecturer in the University of Uyo
(name withheld), who is one of the collation officers in Essien Udim LGA, said
he narrowly escaped being lynched when the senator and his loyalists forcefully
took over the activities at the collation centre at about 10pm on Saturday.
He said they were in the process of verification
and collation when Akpabio stormed the venue with several uniformed and
plain-clothes men.
He said the embattled senator had initially
tried to plead with the ad-hoc staff to suspend the use of card reader and just
accept the results when one of his loyalists identified as Nse Ntuen (a member
of House of Assembly) emerged from nowhere and started molesting all the INEC
officials over their uncooperative attitude.
The lecturer said, “Suddenly, Nse Ntuen
emerged and picked up a plastic chair, murmuring that the electoral officers
were not cooperating with them. I escaped by God’s grace because he was about
smashing my head with that chair, when he suddenly saw another fat man with a
Peoples Democratic Party tag and he unleashed the chair on him mercilessly.
“Ntuen also beat up the corps members as
everyone tried scampering for safety. In that confusion, I dragged the
returning officer who is also my colleague in the university, and is
hypertensive, and we were able to escape. I got to Uyo at about 2am.”
At Polling Unit 9 in Ukana West, Ward 2
located in the premises of Independent High School, Ukana, Essien Udim LGA,
where Senator Akpabio voted, journalists were refused access to the school.
Reacting to the allegations, the Media Aide
to Senator Akpabio, Anietie Ekong, said all the accusations were false.
“At least 12 senior officers of the Nigerian
Army, including Generals, have been sacked over alleged involvement in the
Ekiti governorship election scandal and defence contract related offences, an
official statement said Saturday.
HURIWA asked Nigerians to recall that
sometimes ago the Army disciplined 38 officers found wanting to have colluded
with politicians. The Army then had stated thus:
“The Nigerian Army wishes to inform the
general public that quite a number of senior officers of the Nigerian Army were
retired from service yesterday,” said Army Director of Public Relations,
Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman.
“Those retired were mainly some Major
Generals, Brigadier Generals, Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels and a Major.
“Their retirement was based on Service
exigencies. It should be recalled that not too long ago some officers were
investigated for being partisan during the 2015 General Elections.
“Similarly, the investigation by the
Presidential Committee investigating Defence Contracts revealed a lot.
“Some officers have already been arraigned in
court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). People should
therefore not read this out of context.
“The military must remain apolitical and professional
at all times.
“We must applaud and support this laudable
and bold initiative by the government”.
The Army had last year sent 12 Army officers
to the EFCC for investigation.
General Usman had in a statement issued last
year said the indicted officers comprised three serving Major-Generals, one
retired Major-General, three Brigadier-Generals, four Colonels and a Lieutenant
Colonel.”
HURIWA said these sanctions and clean up
exercise was carried out by the current Army Chief of Staff even as it pleaded
with Nigerians for patience and understanding with the Army as they carry out
their findings which should be transparent, open and fair in line with the Constitution.
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko:
National Coordinator of Human rights Writers
Association of Nigeria (HURIWA).
Text of a media briefing of Monday March 11th
2019.
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