Why the army is in Edo State
- Details
- Category: POLITICS
- Published on Wednesday, 11 July 2012 17:00
- Written by Ogbuefi Blogs
AHEAD of Saturday’s Edo State gubernatorial election, the Federal Government has deployed heavy military personnel in the state. Is this necessary? I hereby present two arguments; both for and against. Elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark has warned the Federal Government against deploying military personnel in the state; but Chief
Dominic Ogbonna said if care is not taken, the volatile mix of State Government power in the hands of the opposition party, ACN, and federal might in the hands of the ruling PDP could easily erupt into violence.
"Deploying soldiers is, in my opinion, a wise pre-emptive move on the part of the Federal Government", Mr Ogbonna said.
It should be noted though, that On February 7, Edwin Clark defended the deployment of troops to Lagos in January, but today he is fuming against their presence in Edo for Saturday elections.
PHOTO: SOLDERS ON THE STREET OF BENIN
Now read both opinions and have your say:
Why EDO State is in Lockdown Mode - Dominic Ogbonna
Its a simple election ... and you would think voters will simply vote, and INEC will simply count. But nothing is every straightforward in Nigeria. EDO is in lock-down mode because:
(a.) PDP is not in power, and does not control the instrumentality in the state. If it were in power, it would simply rig the elections for the PDP candidate.
(b.) Rigging elections is a task that ACN takes even more seriously than PDP. PDP occasionally concedes elections even in places where it is in power, but ACN would never tolerate such a lapse, because a state that ACN looses, is a revenue source that Tinubu looses. With ACN, politics is by definition completely do-or-die. Wherever ACN is in power, they will NEVER give it up. They will use ANY amount of rigging, violence, & intimidation, to retain power..
So the soldiers are EDO State to prevent the inevitable ACN from rigging.
I think also that our EDO brothers and sisters must be careful. The ACN people are natural political thugs. With ACN, you are looking at a dangerous mix of Political Thuggery, Tinubu-scale Greed, and political fanaticism of the type that says Ondo State must be captured into ACN. And the Anenih camp of the PDP will stop at nothing, of course.
So if care is not taken, this could easily erupt into violence. Deploying soldiers is, in my opinion, a wise pre-emptive move on the part of the Federal Government.
Guber poll: Don’t deploy Military men to Edo, Clark warns FG
AHEAD of Saturday’s Edo State gubernatorial election, elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark has warned the Federal Government against deploying military personnel in the state.
Chief Clark, said the presence of military personnel in Edo State for the poll will negate the principle of free and fair poll.
In a statement, yesterday in Abuja, he said: “I seriously condemn the use military personnel for Edo gubernatorial election, because it is not only unnecessary but may create bias and fraud in the entire process. I strongly support the position of the civil rights group that condemned the use of military personnel in the Edo gubernatorial poll. I also support the reasons given for their decision.
“An advocate of an egalitarian society where peace, equity, justice prevail, and also as a politician, who participated in the political development of this country from independence till date, including witnessing the various elections till date, I wish to clarify as it concerns Edo State, so as to prevent a wrong precedent in future elections.
“First, Edo State is not a volatile state, it is crisis free. Edo is not known as a political thuggery state. Apart from the few schemishes during the campaign, which the police was able to contain, the state had been peaceful. It will be unnecessary and this may create bias, if the military was allowed to provide security, considering the fact that one of the contestants was a former military officer and one cannot therefore rule out the spirit of esprit de corps, if military personal are posted to monitor the election.
“I have seen a situation whereby only the police were deployed by the Inspector General of Police to conduct elections in other parts of the country, even in volatile cases. It is unnecessary and unfair for the army to be involved in the Edo gubernatorial election.
“I appeal to Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct free, fair and credible elections in Edo State on July 14, 2012 so as to justify the confidence reposed in them by Nigerians despite the disturbing news about the Edo State election.”
Ogbuefi Ndigbo
