A coalition group, Coalition of Civil Society Organisations and Election Observers, has called for peaceful elections in the Niger Delta Region, while also alleging militarisation of various states, especially the Niger Delta region, ahead of today’s governorship and State Assembly elections.
Speaking recently at a world press conference organised by the group in Abuja, the national coordinator, Coalition of Civil Society Organisations and Election Observers, Okpanachi Jacob, stated that the press conference was necessitated by an alleged heavy presence of military and the suspected fear its presence might create among peace loving Nigerians ahead of today’s elections.
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Okpanachi said, “As democrats and stakeholders in Nigeria’s democratic process, we strongly feel obliged to draw the attention of the media, the Nigerian people and the international community, to the attempt being orchestrated mainly to intimidate, harass and build unnecessary tensions around an election process, which ordinarily should be a civil exercise.
“While it is an undeniable fact, that our security agencies particularly the Nigerian police have played crucial roles in ensuring peaceful conduct of our elections, we are worried that same cannot be said about the conduct of the military, which ordinarily have no statutory obligation, during elections. We must all remember that Democracy becomes a sham if elections are carried out in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, and when security agents who are hitherto expected to be impartial and neutral, become openly partisan, demonstrating lack of integrity and acting blatantly as agents of political parties”.
Similarly, secretary, Coalition of Civil Society Organisations and Election Observers, Olufemi Lawson, hinted that any attempt to derail democracy would be too tragic and all must wake up to the reality as the price of liberty and sustenance of democracy is eternal vigilance and appropriate reaction to ward off iniquities.
