Chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, yesterday explained that the
deployment of soldiers during the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State helped to ensure the successful
conduct of the election.
Jega who gave the explanation at an interactive session with news managers in Abuja yesterday, INEC has made adequate preparations to ensure a free, fair and credible election in Osun State.
The INEC chairman said it is wrong to view the deployment of soldiers in Ekiti State as militarisation saying it is just a ploy by some politicians to create excuses to undermine the electoral process.
He said, “People raised the issue of militarisation in Ekiti State. By the strict definition of militarisation, I am a student of politics and military rules. I have even published papers on militarisation. So I know the definition.
“So there is no way anybody can conceivably define what happened in Ekiti as militarisation of electoral process. The electoral process in Ekiti Election was not militarised. Yes there was heavy security presence but I don’t think it can be conceived as militarisation.
“I think we must choose our concepts carefully and use them carefully. I think the concern of people is that there should not be overbearing presence of military on Election Day. And the way we have defined the role of security is very clear. The military performs what we describe as peripheral outer cordon. It is the mobile police that handles internal movement in terms of movements in the towns but away from polling unit. And it is unarmed policemen that you have an average of three per polling units, and that is exactly what happened in Ekiti.
“I am not averse to anything military. I am averse to military regime. I will fight against military regimes. We want democracy that is why we are here. That is not being adverse to military.”
Jega who gave the explanation at an interactive session with news managers in Abuja yesterday, INEC has made adequate preparations to ensure a free, fair and credible election in Osun State.
The INEC chairman said it is wrong to view the deployment of soldiers in Ekiti State as militarisation saying it is just a ploy by some politicians to create excuses to undermine the electoral process.
He said, “People raised the issue of militarisation in Ekiti State. By the strict definition of militarisation, I am a student of politics and military rules. I have even published papers on militarisation. So I know the definition.
“So there is no way anybody can conceivably define what happened in Ekiti as militarisation of electoral process. The electoral process in Ekiti Election was not militarised. Yes there was heavy security presence but I don’t think it can be conceived as militarisation.
“I think we must choose our concepts carefully and use them carefully. I think the concern of people is that there should not be overbearing presence of military on Election Day. And the way we have defined the role of security is very clear. The military performs what we describe as peripheral outer cordon. It is the mobile police that handles internal movement in terms of movements in the towns but away from polling unit. And it is unarmed policemen that you have an average of three per polling units, and that is exactly what happened in Ekiti.
“I am not averse to anything military. I am averse to military regime. I will fight against military regimes. We want democracy that is why we are here. That is not being adverse to military.”
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