The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Kukah, has expressed concern over the use of military in elections, saying soldiers should not be used to intimidate political opponents, electorate and the opposition.
Although he said hedid not see anything wrong in the use of soldiers, he, however, warmed that the Federal Government should be careful with their involvement in the forthcoming general election scheduled for March 28.
The January 29 judgment of Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court, Sokoto and the February 16 judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, had outlawed the President’s deployment of members of the Armed Forces for election purposes.
The All Progressive Congress had subsequently written a letter to the Presidency, the Independent National Electoral Commission, National Security Adviser, Service Chiefs and Peoples Democratic Party urging them to obey the court order.
Kukah spoke with journalists on Friday evening in Abuja, after delivering a lecture entitled: “Democracy in Nigeria, So near, So far”, organised by the Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria, an organ of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria.
He said, “About the deployment of the military, frankly, I am not competent to make this comment, but I think we also need to be very fair. I remember very well that the election in Edo State, even Governor Adams Oshiomhole himself commended our soldiers.
“For the election in Ekiti State, we are hearing different stories now. But I don’t think that my friend, Kayode (Fayemi) and others carried placards against the presence of the military.
“The military in my understanding are not there to conduct the election; they will be involve at different levels. What is more important is that how do you ensure that the Army does not become a platform for intimidation? It is like a knife, you can use it to peel your yam or kill.”
On the 2005 report released by the United States, Bishop Kukah urged people to desist from misleading Nigerians that the U.S.A had predicted that Nigeria was going to break up by 2015.
He said America released the report to predict what might likely happen on the African continent, insisting that Nigeria would not “have been where we are now,” if the country’s leadership had lived up to their responsibility, by using the report to put the country in order.
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