The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Friday said the increasing cavalier use of soldiers, especially in furtherance of what it described as “dirty job” is “nihilistic.”
The Labour movement said this in a statement in which it strongly condemned the denial of access of some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors on their way to join the last campaign rally of Governor Kayode Fayemi in Ekiti.
The statement signed by NLC president, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, said the denial of the governors of access Ekiti is tyrannical and a violation of their constitutional right to freely move, associate and express themselves.
While noting that the security officers who barred the governors from proceeding to Ekiti claimed they were acting on orders from above, the Union wondered who gave the orders and the basis of which authority the orders were given.
“We at the Congress believe the orders are a violation of Section 99 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) which states that, ‘For the purpose of this Act, the period of campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 90 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day.”
“The hypocrisy of ‘these orders’ is laid bare by the their selective implementation as the Ministers of Defence and Police Affairs, (both of PDP), Messrs Musiliu Obanikoro and Jelili Adesanya were said to have been given passage with fanfare.
NLC said the conduct of the security men was not only a tyrannical use of power, but an assault on our hard earned democracy which must not be allowed to stand.
“We warn that those who undermine the democratic and constitutional rights of others not only endanger our democracy but make a bad investment as whatever goes around, comes around.
“President Jonathan should ensure this never happens again. The cavalier use of our soldiers, especially in furtherance of a dirty job is nihilistic.
“We also find it necessary to caution against the over-militarization of the state as this has the potential of scaring voters from exercising their civic duty.
“For the purpose of emphasis, we are not against providing security for voters but soldiers should not be deployed in a manner that suggest that the nation is at war with a foreign enemy,” NLC concluded in the statement.
Source: PMNews
