A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Joseph Daudu, (SAN), has backed a move by the Federal Government to deploy the military in next month’s general elections.
Daudu said due to the security challenges confronting the nation, it would not be out of place to station the military in strategic locations to forestall a possible breakdown of law and order.
Daudu spoke yesterday at an event held in his chambers in Abuja, in honour of the 2015 Externship Programme for students of the Nigerian Law School posted to his law offices in Abuja, Kaduna and Zaria.
“The military are not deployed to participate. However, because there are certain sensitive election materials to be protected, they would be available especially in this era of Boko Haram. It is there duty to assist in keeping internal security. However, they won’t be at polling booths to wipe people into lines like members of the Nigeria Police Force or the Civil Defence Corps. But they – the military – should be available for immediate deployment,” he argued.
Daudu said deployment of the military does not mean that they would go to polling booths. For him, the military personnel are expected to be strategically stationed in hot spots and areas that are prone to violence.
In addition, he said the military personnel are not being deployed to participate in elections, but to protect sensitive materials used in the conduct of elections.
Commenting on the recent strike by members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), which led to the shutting down of all courts across the country in January, Daudu said JUSUN was created to protect the interest of workers in the nation’s judiciary and wondered why the body resorted to fighting for its employer rather than the interests of its members.
“JUSUN had no business fighting for the judiciary. That trade union was registered to fight for the rights of judiciary workers but they are now advancing the interest of their employers in ways and manner that were counter-productive by shutting down the courts.
“You don’t pursue the enforcement of court orders by shutting down the courts nationwide,” he said.
Daudu said there is nothing in the statutes that said that appropriated funds should be handed over to the National Judicial Council for onward distribution to the heads of the various courts, as courts do not have public procurement departments.
Source: Newswatch Daily
