military, police not at loggerheads | Nairalaw

There is no rift between the military and the police over the
conduct of the general elections, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ)
said yesterday.

According to the DHQ, the misgivings over the roles of the
military alongside that of the police in Rivers State is receiving
attention.

It said the leaders of the security agencies have shown
commitment on resolving the issues.

Acting Director of Defence Information Col. Onyema Nwachukwu
said the clarifications had become necessary, considering the
public concerns raised by stakeholders regarding the conduct of the
elections in Rivers State.

Col. Nwachukwu spoke at a joint news conference by the spokesmen
of the DHQ, Nigerian Army (NA), Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Nigerian
Navy (NN) and the Police on the previous elections and tomorrow’s
supplementary polls in some states.

Police spokesman Frank Mba, an Assistant Commissioner of Police
(ACP), who read the text of the joint conference, said 1,119
persons were arrested across the country during the national and
state elections.

According to him, security agencies arrested 323 persons for
elections-related offences during the presidential elections; 796
were arrested during the gubernatorial elections.

Akwa Ibom State tops the list with 256 persons, trailed by Imo
with 117 and Kaduna 109.

Mba said that ongoing investigation could lead to more
arrests.

Shedding more light on the elections, the police spokesman said:
“The briefing is necessitated by the need to bring the general
public up-to-date on our activities regarding the just concluded
elections, and more importantly, to shed more light on certain
security challenges witnessed during the elections, before the
supplementary elections coming up on 23 March 2019.

“There is no doubt that the Nigeria Police is the lead security
agency tasked with the provision of security at the polls while the
military is to support the Police and other security agencies by
providing security at the outer cordons, including check points and
other flash points when called upon as provided in Section 217 of
the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as
amended.

“We are, however, equally aware of some of the unfortunate
security challenges witnessed during the elections which have
generated public outcry and condemnation. The alleged involvement
of some security agents in some of these unfortunate incidents is
of serious concern to the military and police high commands.

“While we appreciate the fact that some of these issues may be
as a result of the overzealousness of some personnel, it is
instructive to note that some of these incidents were instances of
impersonation by political thugs clad in military and police
uniforms.

“We assure the general public that investigation is ongoing on
security personnel who might have conducted themselves
inappropriately during the last elections and appropriate sanctions
will be meted out to those found culpable.

“However, it may be too early and too premature to apportion
blames and out-right indict anyone or group before exhaustive
investigations are concluded.

“Particularly, we want to single out the alleged encroachment of
INEC collation centre in Rivers State reportedly by some soldiers.
This is considerably a very serious matter and of concern to the
military as well as the police top hierarchy.

“Consequently, the military and the police high commands have
ordered a thorough investigation of this incident and other
isolated cases. Already, several of the video footages that are in
circulation on social and online media platforms have been compiled
to assist in the investigations.

“In the interest of the general public, we want to seize this
opportunity to assure that the military and the police are not at
loggerheads as may have been erroneously portrayed. The two
security agencies are working in synergy to guarantee peaceful and
secure environment for all law-abiding Nigerians to exercise their
civic right of voting.

“In keeping to this mandate, we want to reiterate our joint
commitment to the peaceful conduct of the forthcoming supplementary
elections scheduled for 23 March 2019.”