TO MILITARISE OR NOT TO MILITARISE?

The government seems to be gradually but assuredly trading our hard-earned democracy for totalitarianism. A very dangerous precedent. The rule of law must be strictly adhered to if we are to secure our democracy. The Court of Appeal in Abuja, a court of competent jurisdiction in a democratic country, recently pronounced the use of Armed Forces in the conduct of elections as a violation of Section 217(2)(c) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 1 of the Armed Forces Act. The court went further to bar the use of the Armed Forces in the conduct of future elections (including the coming election on March 28) in the country as such constituted a violation of both the constitution and the Electoral Act. But our government has insisted that it will ignore the Judiciary.

Why do we like to turn the normal on its head in Nigeria? Why does President Goodluck Jonathan feel that the army should be deployed? The prospect of militarizing our democracy is a very scary one, especially when being initiated by a president who is a beneficiary of civil proceedings.

 May I remind the president that at a Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship campaign in February 2012, he spoke with magisterial candour and confidence about how his administration had adopted the one-man-one-vote policy on the sanctity of elections conducted without gun-wielding security personnel? Mr President, you made this promise: "God willing before 2015, we would conduct election without security carrying guns to follow us. We know we have disciplined people.”

Soon after the president made this promise, he broke it by deploying armed security personnel in Cross Rivers State in an election. In fact, weeks before that, over 100,000 policemen were deployed to the president’s home state of Bayelsa during the state’s governorship election. In Sokoto State that same year, an 8,000-man military force, marched on the streets to guard the polls.  

Having experimented with deploying the military on flimsy grounds during the protests against the removal of fuel subsidy, our president seems to have fallen in love with this dangerous pastime. More recently, we witnessed how the deployment of military during the governorship elections in Ekiti, Osun and Anambra states led to serious violations of citizens’ rights. The ruling party especially in Ekiti also used the military as an instrument. We have a Police Force whose responsibility it is to secure us from within while the military’s constitutional role is to defend our territorial integrity. What do we need men trained to fight wars for at a polling station, especially when we are dealing with terrorists in the northeast?

The President should understand that his acts only serve to damage our economic and political stability. There is terrorism going on in the North East of the nation. We start to see the results of a concerted effort. Kudos must be given to the army for the advances that they are now making. But we wonder why this level of seriousness was not applied right from the start. If the government had been so effective ab initio, all the political games he now has to play to sway the undecided would not have been necessary.  The fact that they show today that when there is sincerity of purpose, they can protect us makes the President look really bad. He is now visiting areas affected by the kidnappings and bombings only for political gain. It is a shame that government feel that we are so worthless that they can play politics with our lives. Shekau is suddenly alive again even though the same army had killed him before.

May I remind the government that elections went on unabated during the long years of the IRA in the UK, the Red Brigade in Greece and ETA in Spain. Afghanistan and Pakistan have conduct elections regularly even in the face of terrorism on scales larger than ours.     

It is truly a shame that the elections were cancelled. Again this was on the advice of a partisan military. It is clear that the opposing party is struggling for funds as all their ad campaigns have ceased. We should be mindful that we need a viable opposition for our democracy to flourish. Winning should not be at all costs and referees should be apolitical.

 Plotting a new path by the country’s political leadership to deepen and guide a more efficient and meaningful national journey is our greatest challenge.  The focus area should be the restoration of the legitimate dream of Nigerians and the re-invention of a social contract in tatters. This can only happen through transitional democracy by means of the ballot box, conducted under a free, fair, credible and open atmosphere devoid of intimidation.