By Innocent Anaba
LAGOPS — Civil society groups in the country under the aegis of Human Rights Agenda Network, HRAN, weekend, condemned the deployment of 3000 soldiers to Edo State by the Federal government and Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
NRAN in letter by its chairman, Mr Chino Obiagwu, addressed to Chairman of INEC, Prof Atahiru Jega, draw the attention of government to the dangers of using the army for civil policing duties, noting that soldiers were not trained to handle civil peace-time law and order, as the deployment of soldiers to civil police duties had always resulted in excessive use of force and wanton killing of innocent civilians.
HRAN, made up of over 150 human rights groups in the country, said we "believe that using the army to manage the forthcoming election in Edo will cause more problems than it would solve. The presence of soldiers in the streets and around polling stations will discourage many people from coming out to vote, thereby creating motivation for low turn out of voters.
"The presence of soldiers carrying live weapons will be provocative and could easily lead to violent clashes. We are well aware of the abuse and misuse of security personnel during elections and the involvement of the army could lead to fatal consequences.
"HRAN request that police and other civil force be deployed for the election and that the conduct of these officials should be supervised and monitored. We remind INEC of its duty to ensure violent-free, transparent and credible governorship election in Edo State."
Vanguard Nigeria