The Nation Newspaper

Tag: deployment

  • Still on military deployment for polls

    SIR: A major issue dotting our political landscape is whether or not the military should be deployed to provide security at the coming polls. As accusations and counter-accusations continue to trail the proposal, it is pertinent to state that the fact that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has supported the move does not make it right. The courts have even ruled against such move.

    Kindly let us recall the gory past of military excessiveness. For example, a few hours before last year’s month of August Osun governorship election day, over 10,000 battle-ready soldiers were reportedly drafted to mount surveillance on all the roads leading to the state from the boundaries of the neighbouring Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Oyo and Ogun states, thereby putting the state under siege. This resulted into untold hardships for the people occasioned by queues of parked vehicles and stretched long distances from various entry points.

    Military deployment is nothing but a subtle invitation for soldiers to supplant democracy. In the past, there had been reported cases of harassment and intimidation of civilians by soldiers.  This is where the Federal Government should be very careful not to give the impression of taking sides and abusing state security outfits, thereby fuelling the age-long fears that the military has been seriously politicised. In the past, soldiers have been accused of intimidating voters during elections. This should not be. Military men are not in anyway superior to the civilians. They are public servants and as such, are expected to respect civil rule and comport themselves in a submissive and dignified manner. They should carry out their duties with utmost patriotism. Nigerians should be watchful and shun violence in the face of any provocation. They should go about their normal business without fear.

    To ensure free and fair coverage in the coming elections, international observers, party agents and civil societies group should be given free hand to monitor election proceedings. The media, being the Fourth Estate of the Realm, should be allowed to perform its societal obligation under a convivial atmosphere as the watchdog in deepening democracy. Openness remains the best way to enthroning democratic credentials. This will involve granting true independence to the electoral body to discharge its duties. The Nigeria Police Force should be better equipped with adequate funds, personnel and requisite training to carry out its statutory functions now being usurped by the army.

    Above all, the politicians should play the game by its rules bearing in mind that nobody gains anything by engaging in do-or-die politicking. Or, is political office no longer an avenue for service delivery? The planned military deployment – in clear defiance of court orders – may eventually not translate into victory for any party because voters this time around would vote for candidates that could positively turn things around for them and make the nation a better place. What should really matter most is the people’s unwavering resolution and strong-will to get the best, which the barrel of gun can never suppress.

    • Adewale Kupoluyi 

    Federal University of Agriculture,

    Abeokuta (FUNAAB),

  • ‘Deployment of soldiers for election duties illegal’

    It is ultra-vires (outside) President Goodluck Jonathan’s powers to deploy solders during elections, a human rights group, One Voice, has said.

    In a statement by its media committee chairman Pastor Deji Adeleye, the group said the police is being undermined by the deployment of soldiers to maintain law and order during elections.

    “OneVOICE, acting in consultation with some of the best legal luminaries in the country, believe that it is illegal and ultra vires the part of President Jonathan to deploy the military to maintain law and order during elections.

    “It is incongruous with sections 215 and 217 of the Constitution which made it abundantly clear that the power of the President to deploy Armed Forces for internal security is limited to the suppression of insurrection, including insurgency and aiding the police to restore order when it has broken down.

    “The use of soldiers during elections is ill-advised. Instead, the police should have been strengthened to discharge the duty of ensuring internal security while the military is restricted to the defense of the Nation’s territorial integrity.

    “What militarisation does is to invoke fears on voters to make them not consider participating in the election thereby disenfranchising them,” One Voice said.

    The group said the coercive apparatus of the state constitutionally mandated to maintain law and order is the police, not the military or the Department of State Security (DSS) whose legal existence is unknown to any law in Nigeria, or masked persons.

    “Indeed, the duty of the military is to defend the territorial integrity of the country or quell insurrection in any section of the country where the Police has proved incapable of handling the situation.

    “ONEVOICE is, therefore, demanding a stop to the use of the military and DSS operatives in subsequent election including the 2015 general elections,” it said.

    The group also condemned the current gale of impeachments and attempted impeachments of state governors, saying: “The road to the present democratic dispensation in Nigeria is undoubtedly a tortuous one and we cannot afford to allow our democracy to come to peril.”

    The development, the group said, has grave implications on constitutionalism and the rule of law, especially as laid down constitutional rules are being violated and trampled upon with impunity.

    It added that unlike America where impeachment is the last resort when all other options had failed, the reverse is the case in Nigeria.

    “It is always the first option with the legislators threatening the president or state governor at will.  To date, only twice have the American congress impeached the President since 238 years ago that America gained independence.

    “Although no Nigerian President has been impeached, many State governors have been sacked through impeachment since 1999 under the present dispensation. Under the former President olusegun Obasanjo, two governors, Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State were impeached.

    “Under President Jonathan, impeachment notices against many governors have become very rampant. Indeed, political watchers see this method as a subversion of the constitution which portends danger for the political stability of the country,” One Voice said.

  • Obanikoro defends troops deployment for Osun poll

    Obanikoro defends troops deployment for Osun poll

    Minister of State of Defence Senator Musliu Obanikoro spoke yesterday on Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.

    The minister addressed reporters in Osogbo, the state capital.

    He said President Goodluck Jonathan wanted one-man, one-vote.

    Besides, he alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was mobilising people from Lagos to ahead of the poll.

    But APC denied the allegation.

    Obanikoro said: “The people of Osun State should resist this invasion and we will support them to ensure that they did not succeed in achieving this.

    “There was no multiple voting, no ballot snatching in Ekiti. The military helped the process,” he said.

    On the constitutionality of military presence, he said Osun is bigger than Ekiti.

    “That is why the presence will be more. It is my responsibility to secure the people, not to give advantage to the PDP, but to the people of Osun,” Obanikoro said.

    But APC denied the PDP’s allegation.

    The party said the PDP and Obanikoro were only looking for how to use the security agents to unleash terror on Osun residents, particularly APC supporters.

    The party’s spokesman, Mr. Kunle Oyatimi said: “The security forces appear to have intensified their harassment of Osun people by interfering in the movement of people in our cities and towns and arresting targeted individuals, including Yemi Oke, a leader of APC in Obokun Local Governmenet Area .

    “Early Monday morning, they created panic through rigorous searches in Osogbo and Ilesa, causing traffic to crawl for hours before relenting as the afternoon approached. Convoys of strange-looking people, believed to be militants from Bayelsa and other Niger Delta states, have been moving in and out of Ilesa. They were escorted by branded vehicles of the Omisore Campaign Organisation.

    “Speculation is rife that the security services may be rehearsing a lock-down of Osogbo and other cities on Tuesday (today) in what we have been informed is a desperate bid to whittle down the number of supporters expected at the final mega rally of the APC.”

     

     

    Stay away from Osun, acting  IGP warns ‘trouble makers’

    By Augustine Ehikioya

    The Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, has warned those he said may intend to cause trouble in Osun State to stay away from Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

    Abba addressed State House correspondents yesterday after a meeting with Vice-President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa in Abuja

    He said only people who have official functions to perform in the state would be allowed to move freely within Osun during the election.

    To ensure peace in the state, the police chief said he had changed the operational guidelines of his predecessor, Mohammed Abubakar, who retired last week.

    Abba said the new operational guideline would ensure that his men get to Osun State on time to prepare for the election.

  • APC leads opposition against soldiers’ deployment

    APC leads opposition against soldiers’ deployment

    •PDP defends military measure  

    •Adeleke cautions security agents 

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) led opposition yesterday to the deployment of soldiers by the Federal Government for the August 9 election.

    Osun State APC’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, in a statement in Osogbo, argued that the military is not saddled with internal security duties, adding that it is against the constitution.

    The party said the Nigeria Police is best suited for such duties constitutionally, insisting that a military siege for an election is a subversion of democracy and must not be encouraged.

    “The APC therefore insists that the Federal Government must drop the idea because it is inimical to the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria.

    “From Wednesday, immediately after the Ramadan fast, Osun State woke up to sporadic gunshots fired by security men practically announcing their presence that had been anticipated from wide-spread reports in the media, which indicated that the PDP intended to jolt the citizens with fierce-looking armed and uniformed men to pacify citizens in order to rig the August 9 governorship election.”

    The party said Osun citizens were unimpressed by the show of force by these armed gunmen who had earlier been sighted amassing at the DSS office along Gbongan-Ibadan road.

    The party said: “On Thursday however, the DSS security operatives got a shocker around 5p.m in the evening along Okefia, when in company of some masked men, the security operatives rent the air with a burst of sporadic gunfire to simply intimidate people.

    “Rather than scatter in fright, the people, with brooms in their hands, flooded into the street in utter defiance singing songs of praise of Aregbesola and the APC, and telling the security operatives who wanted to frighten them that no amount of threats and violence will change them from supporting the governor. The security people least expected what they saw.”

    It added: “The stage is being set for a showdown in the heart of Yorubaland and what is at stake here is whether or not democracy will stand a chance to survive 2015 in Nigeria.”

    But the State PDP Publicity Secretary, Prince Bola Ajao, who addressed reporters yesterday in Osogbo, defended the high security presence ahead of the August 9 poll, saying it was meant to protect lives and property.

    He explained that deployment would help in the maintenance of law and order before and during the exercise.

    The first Executive Governor, Osun State, Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, has also emphasised the need for security agents deployed for the election to conduct themselves “most professionally in the discharge of their duties and in accordance with their oath of office.”

    He said events in the last 24hours, when some of the security agents arrived in the state, “were not dignifying and edifying.”

    “There is just no point in creating unnecessary fear and intimidation against the law-abiding citizens of Osun State that cut across different political parties.

    “The alleged sporadic shooting into the air, as witnessed on Wednesday, July 30th 2014 in some areas in Osogbo by some security apparatus is unwelcome.”

    He appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to display absolute neutrality towards the election.

    A civil society group, the Democracy Vanguard, has decried the heavy presence of the state security men.

    A statement by its state coordinator, Comrade Olowu Emmanuel, said the “intimidating” number  of the operatives “is a threat to the peace-loving people of the state”.

    The group noted that Osun has been one of the most peaceful states in the country and despite the governorship election that is only eight days away; the people have remained peaceful and are living in harmony.

  • Soldiers’ deployment: Court strikes out Jonathan’s name in N100m suit

    Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, yesterday struck out the name of President Goodluck Jonathan in a suit filed by the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) Lagos State branch, over the deployment of soldiers in the state.

    Justice Samuel Candide-Johnson struck out the name following an application by the claimants to discontinue their claims against the President.

    The court asked them to file an amended Motion on Notice within seven days.

    However, the claimants said they would prosecute their claims against the remaining five defendants in the action.

    They are the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Inspector-General of Police, the Nigeria Police and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF)

    The claimants’ counsel, Bayo Phillips, said his Notice of Discontinuance was brought pursuant to Order 23, Rule 1 of the High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2004.

    The withdrawal of claims against Jonathan was said to have arisen foolowing complications in a bid to serve him with the court processes.

    The suit was jointly filed by NBA Lagos Branch Chairman, Mr. Taiwo Taiwo, its Secretary, Mr. Alex Muoka and human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa.

    They are demanding N100million as damages against the respondents, jointly and severally for alleged violation of their fundamental rights.

    The soldiers were deployed in January last year to prevent the mass protests and peaceful demonstrations that followed the removal of fuel subsidy, which led to a hike in petroleum products’ prices.

    The applicants sought an injunction restraining the respondents from preventing the lawful gathering of the applicants and other citizens at Falomo roundabout, Gani Fawehinmi Park, Yaba, Ojota, Ketu, Ikorodu, Lekki, Alimosho and other public places in Lagos State in exercise of their fundamental rights.

    Justice Candide-Johnson adjourned further proceedings till April 22.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Content board begins pilot scheme on fund deployment

    The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) said it has started a pilot scheme with two Nigerian companies on how the Nigerian Content Fund (NCF) should be deployed.

    The Fund which is built through the payment of one per cent of every contract awarded in the oil and gas industry, is meant to be used in assisting the development of indigenous content and capacity in the petroleum industry.

    The Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Ernest Nwapa, said the fund is growing and that it has secured the services of fund managers to operate it and ensure transparency.
    He said by the way the management of the fund is structured, 30 per cent would be used to stimulate growth of capacity, while the remaining 70 per cent would used to guarantee local oil firms’ loans from banks.

    He said: “To ensure transparency, the Board brought in fund managers to manage the fund. Currently 30 per cent of the fund will be used for stimulating capacity building, while 70 per cent will be used as guarantee for oil firms’ borrowing s from bank.

    “For example, if an indigenous oil company goes to a bank to borrow $20 million, besides guaranteeing the loan with the fund, the interest that accrues on the loan will be shared 50-50. While the company bears 50 per cent of the interest, the fund will bear the remaining 50 per cent,” assuring that the 70 per cent part of the fund would not be depleted. “The 70 per cent of the fund will not be depleted. It will be made to continue to grow.

    Nwapa, said currently, the Board is running a pilot on the fund usage and deployment with two members of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN). The association is made up of Nigerian oil companies, particularly those in the services sector of the upstream segment of petroleum industry.

    He said between 2010 and June this year, the country has recorded investment inflow of $2.8 billion as a result of the Nigerian Content Act, adding that before the Act, Nigerian firms were increasingly buying equities in new rigs because it was pretty difficult for them to buy new ones alone, as one new rig can cost as much as $200 million. None of the companies currently has new rigs, but they are making headway in marine vessel acquisition.

    Nwapa, said once a vessel is owned by a Nigerian company, it is given priority for jobs, adding that the board is uploading evidence to confirm that these vessels truly belong to Nigerians. Part of what the board wants to use to confirm evidence that the vessels belong to Nigerians, he said, is try to see the banks that are financing the vessels.

    To buttress the increasing involvement of Nigerians in marine vessel business and management, Nwapa said four of Nigeria’s Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) carriers are completely manned by Nigerians.