Polls: Army chief says military will meet violence with ‘organised violence’

Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, has warned that politicians planning violence during elections would be met by organized violence. He spoke Wednesday when he walked in during a press conference being addressed by the army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman at the army headquarters in Abuja. General Minimah walked in during the questions […]

Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, has warned that politicians planning violence during elections would be met by organized violence.

He spoke Wednesday when he walked in during a press conference being addressed by the army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman at the army headquarters in Abuja.

General Minimah walked in during the questions and answers session of the monthly press conference while the army spokesman was answering questions on election security.

He said: “whoever wants to invoke or provoke violence would meet organized violence waiting for him; I say this because if you think a few years back, Obama and Mitt Romney polarized the United States of America politically, none of them threatened the United States, and none of them threatened violence.”

Also speaking of the United Kingdom, he said none of the parties contesting for control of government threatened violence: “nobody thinks of violence as a process of the elections, why we in Nigeria must (we) consider violence as a process of our own election?”

“Therefore every Nigerian should go about the election as a normal day’s job, go and vote and do your normal day’s engagement, whoever threatens violence will meet violence, the election should come and go peacefully, if you win, rule, if you lose the remedies are there, go to court,” General Minimah added.

He appealed to politicians, their followers and supporters to keep the peace, maintain the peace and ensure a violent free election, noting that: “I will appeal to law abiding Nigerians to come out in mass, vote for candidates of their choice without fear of intimidation, without fear for their safety, it is their right to vote.”

Minimah further assured that the armed forces together with other security organizations have made adequate arrangements for security during the general elections in a few days and local elections in a few weeks to come.

Asked about the court order barring solders from election duty, the Chief of Army Staff said: “I can interpret it further, this is not your first elections, you have seen several elections in Nigeria, and you have seen soldiers providing security for the elections.”

“Have you seen soldiers at polling booths? Have you seen soldiers counting ballots or carry ballot material, papers, boxes or whatever? So I don’t know what you are asking? I should even ask you,” he said.