A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai yesterday described the planned troops deployment during the elections as a design by the Federal Government to intimidate voters where its candidates are unpopular.
He said the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Owoye Azazi, was joking by asking Nigerians not to protect their votes during the elections.
He demanded immediate redeployment of all Resident Electoral Commissioners by the Chairman of the (INEC) Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to have a free and fair poll.
El-Rufai, who addressed reporters at the Good Governance Group (3G) in Abuja , warned the Federal Government against recourse to the June 12, 1993 election which was annulled.
The 3G was one of the platforms which agitated for the actualisation of Jonathan’s short tenure as acting President when there was a constitutional crisis during the ill-health of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
He said Nigeria cannot afford to have a repeat of June 12 ‘convulsions’ again.
“We consider it a patriotic move by us to alert the Nigerian public and the world at large about the proposed intense involvement of the military in the forthcoming elections, which a retired Army General in the Presidency has been saddled with the responsibility of implementing during the electoral process.
“The operation has little to do with security concerns but creating a climate of intimidation to rig the elections. The plan consists of intimidating voters and precluding them from coming out to freely elect candidates of their choice in the 2011 elections, particularly, in areas where candidates having the support of the government of the day appear to be unpopular.
“To facilitate this, the Nigerian Army, which is a state institution financed by tax payers’ monies, is knowingly or otherwise being positioned for this exercise. We have learnt that in the implementation of this project, a senior military officer would be in charge of every state of the Federation, while more junior officers would anchor the project in each of the Local Government Areas across the country.
“We hereby call on the Federal Government of Nigeria, INEC, the Service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police and the Director-General of State Security Service (SSS), that they constitutionally owe allegiance to the people of Nigeria , and not to any particular candidate.
“Our country’s democratic aspirations and its prospects for accelerated development can only be enhanced if a massive turnout of voters is encouraged across the country. It will be a massive setback if the results were to be influenced by fear-induced low turnout of voters.
“Voters must as of right be free to move about within their immediate locality on the election days for the purposes of locating their polling centres and getting accredited prior to voting.
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It’s ploy to intimidate voters, says el-Rufai