Military now shares Buhari’s powers, PDP says

The main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has alleged that the Nigerian military now shares the powers of President Muhammadu Buhari with him.

The PDP was reacting to the position of the US on the conduct of the 2019 elections, adding that the involvement of the military in the conduct of the elections had shown that the President had either abandoned his job or that the military were no longer ready to face their constitutional roles of defending the territorial integrity of the country.

The PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, stated this while reacting to the US assessment of the elections, adding that the military were behind the states whose elections were declared inconclusive by INEC.

According to him, the military practically took over the control of the elections by allegedly deciding who is to vote and if such a vote would count in many states.

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Secondus also alleged that the military took over collation centres in states like Rivers and Bauchi, barring even officials of INEC from gaining access to the centres where votes were meant to be counted and collated.

He said: “It is not only the US that is disappointed; millions of Nigerians are also sad with the conduct of the elections. This is the first time in the history of elections in Nigeria that the military will be dictating the pace and whether the votes will count or not.

“We have all seen the report of INEC on Rivers State and others. It is obvious that the military have been sharing powers with the President. If this is not true, how can the military be the one to determine which results would be allowed into the collation centres?

“The military have abandoned their constitutional roles of defending the territorial integrity of the nation. They have become an arm of a political party. This is dangerous for the nation.

“The military are helping the ruling party to kill the opposition in order to have a one party state. If that is allowed, then we may not have democracy again but a one party state. That are shameful and unacceptable.

“The military are the one determining which state election is to be declared inconclusive with their actions.

“Democracy without opposition is no longer a government of the people by the people. Rather, it is a dictatorship government. We should all rise up and caution both the president and the military.”

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