PDP cautions Buratai against dragging military into politics

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday cautioned the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to refrain himself from acts or actions that would suggest in any way that the military has become an arm of a political Party under the present dispensation in the country.

This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja  by the National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan

The party declared that  Gen. Buratai’s allusion to its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as well as his threats to officers and ranks to execute the unlawful order by President Muhammadu Buhari to participate in the electoral process was an aberration of our laws and a recipe for crisis.

It maintained that “Atiku Abubakar spoke on the side of the law and wishes of Nigerians and cannot be intimidated by anybody no matter how highly placed”.‎

The party counselled Gen. Buratai to note that the loyalty of the military” is to the state and that the President lacks the powers, under our laws, to deploy soldiers for the conduct of elections”.

According to the statement, “Our party urges Gen Buratai to concentrate on his very demanding assignment of protecting the territorial integrity of our nation and ending insurgency rather than dabbling into partisan politics at the risk of our national cohesion

“It is imperative to state that by trying to drag the military to participate in the February 23 Presidential elections, President Buhari plots to suspend our constitution, assume the position of an emperor, trigger unrest, subvert our electoral process and derail our democracy”.

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While insisting that President Buhari lacked the constitutional power to deploy Soldiers for Elections,  the party directed President Buhari to the judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos on March 23, 2015, wherein the court, presided over by Justice Ibrahim Buba, directly outlawed the deployment of troops in the conduct of elections in the  country.

According to it, “President Buhari should also avail himself of the subsisting judgment of the Court of Appeal, which on February 15, 2015, held that the President has no powers to deploy soldiers in the conduct of elections”.

The PDP further counselled  President Buhari and Gen. Buratai “to end their rationalizing of the military option, as the courts have summarily dismissed their arguments that soldiers are needed to guarantee peaceful elections”.

According to it,” It may interest President Buhari to know that the judgment was sequel to a suit filed by the APC Leader in the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, seeking a declaration that deployment of soldiers during  elections is illegal and unconstitutional

“In case, President Buhari is not aware, as usual, the court directly held that “the Armed Forces have no role in elections” and if soldiers must vote, they must do so in their barracks.

According to the court, “the time has come for us to establish the culture of democratic rule in the country and to start to do the right
thing particularly when it has to do with dealing with the electoral process, which is one of the pillars of democracy

“In spite of the behaviour of the political class, we should, by all means, try to keep armed personnel and military from being a part and
the parcel of the electoral process

“The state is obligated to confine the military to their very demanding assignment, especially in this time of insurgencies by keeping them out of elections”, the court held.

It declared that the priming of the military ahead of the election, therefore, heightened the fear of plots by the APC to plunge the nation into crisis and use security forces to subjugate Nigerians, seeing that President Buhari had o chance of winning the February 23 Presidential Election.

The PDP, therefore, cautioned President Buhari not to allow his desperation to push him to corrupt the patriotism of our military and use them against innocent Nigerians, whose only demand was for free, fair and credible elections in the country.

It urged the international community to note the roles being played by President Buhari, his Federal Executive Council and Gen. Buratai in the nation’s electoral process.