Don’t drag military into politics, PDP warns Buratai

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has warned the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to refrain from acts or actions that will suggest in any way that the military has become an arm of a political party.

The party gave the warning in a statement issued by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan.

Buratai had earlier cautioned PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over a recent comment he made about the Army disobeying certain orders.

According to the PDP, Gen. Buratai’s allusion to Atiku Abubakar, as well as his threats to officers and ranks to execute the unlawful order by President Muhammadu Buhari to participate in the electoral process is an aberration of Nigeria’s laws and a recipe for crisis.

The PDP states that Atiku Abubakar spoke on the side of the law and wishes of Nigerians and cannot be intimidated by anybody no matter how highly placed.

“Our party urges Gen Buratai to concentrate on his very demanding assignment of protecting the territorial integrity of our nation and ending insurgency rather than dabbling into partisan politics at the risk of our national cohesion.

“It is imperative to state that by trying to drag the military to participate in the February 23 Presidential elections, President Buhari plots to suspend our constitution, assume the position of an emperor, trigger unrest, subvert our electoral process and derail our democracy.

“The party directs President Buhari to the judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos on March 23, 2015, wherein the court, presided over by Justice Ibrahim Buba, directly outlawed the deployment of troops in the conduct of elections in our country.”

“President Buhari should also avail himself of the subsisting judgment of the Court of Appeal, which on February 15, 2015, held that the President has no powers to deploy soldiers in the conduct of elections.

“It may interest President Buhari to know that the judgment was sequel to a suit filed by the APC Leader in the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, seeking a declaration that deployment of soldiers during elections is illegal and unconstitutional.

The PDP further counsels President Buhari and Gen. Buratai to end their rationalizing of military option, as the courts have summarily dismissed their arguments that soldiers are needed to guarantee peaceful elections.

The party therefore cautioned President Buhari not to allow his desperation to push him to corrupt the patriotism of our military and use them against innocent Nigerians, whose only demand is for a free, fair and credible election.