The Nigerian Army on Monday said it will carry out the orders from a controversial statement issued by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday that all those planning to snatch ballot boxes may be carrying out their last illegal acts.
The comment is already generating heated debates in the polity with many saying the president’s statement is a veiled sanction to security operatives to kill (extrajudicially) those who run afoul of the electoral law.
The president made the statement at the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus meeting on Monday.
A leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has, however, defended the president saying President Muhammadu Buhari was ‘misinterpreted’.
The Electoral Act prescribes two years in jail, not death, for persons found guilty of snatching or destroying election materials.
Lawyers also argue that Section 33 of the Nigerian Constitution gives instances where ”one may forfeit his/her life as a result of certain scenarios”.
The Nigerian Army said it will obey ‘totally and effectively’ such order if it is given by Mr Buhari.
“If Commander-in-Chief has given order to the Nigerian Army to that effect, be rest assured that order will be totally and effectively obeyed without any ifs or buts,” Army spokesperson Sagir Musa said on Monday.
The Nigerian Army had earlier said it would deploy personnel for the elections, but only on contingent bases on the outer perimeter of communities rather than near polling units.
President Buhari on Monday afternoon ordered security forces to be ruthless against anyone caught snatching ballot boxes after citizens had voted.
”Anybody who decides to snatch boxes or lead thugs to disturb the election, maybe that would be the last unlawful action you would take. I have given the military and police the order to be ruthless.
”I am going to warn anybody who thinks he would lead a body of thugs in his locality to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system; he would do it at the expense of his/her own life,” the president said at a gathering of the ruling All Progressives Congress on Monday in Abuja.
