The Department of State Services has warned Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and other politicians against inciting and unguarded statements ahead of the 2015 general elections.
The service frowned at the statement credited to the governor in which he said that soldiers have the right to protest if their welfare was not taken care of, noting that his utterance was meant to undermine the Federal Government.
Amaechi, who is Director-General, All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, had said, “The challenge of the Nigerian military is not funding but corruption. Now they want to kill some 50 officers for their own failure to equip them properly to fight terrorism. The soldiers have the right to protest for the federal government’s failure to fully equip them.”
But the DSS in a statement by its Deputy Director, Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar, on Monday in Abuja, said the governor’s statement was meant to achieve a selfish desire, against the collective well-being of the nation and warned that it would not condone acts that are inimical to the general interest of the nation.
“Political office-holders must not hide under the privileges of their offices to perpetrate and encourage the commission of acts inimical to the general interest of this nation, as this will henceforth not be tolerated,”the statement said.
The service said that such similar unguarded statements by politicians in the past had encouraged violence that resulted in loss of innocent lives and property.
The statement reads, “The attention of the Department of State Services has been drawn to inciting and unguarded statements and utterances by some politicians ahead of the 2015 general elections.
“Of particular interest is the statement of a serving governor calling on men of the armed forces to rise up in protest against constituted authority, with the intent to undermine the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“This statement therefore serves as the last warning to all those seeking to truncate the nation’s democracy by their careless and obviously mischievous utterances and actions to desist and retrace their steps immediately.
“This Service and indeed all security agencies will not rest on their oars and are committed to the successful conduct of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria.”
Source: Punch
