In spite of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Sokoto, which declared as illegal the deployment of soldiers for election duties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the Federal Government must deploy troops for the rescheduled general polls. Recall that Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Sokoto in a judgment delivered on January 29, 2015, had barred the use of the armed forces in the conduct of elections. Similarly, the Court of Appeal, which heard the appeal arising from the petition filed by the APC against Fayose’s victory in the June 21, 2014 governorship election in its judgment on Mon- day, February 16 also condemned the use of members of the armed forces in the conduct of future elections in the country. It said such actions constituted a violation of both the 1999 constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act.
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But speaking in Abuja on Thursday, the director, media and publicity, PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani Kayode, hinged the party’s argument on the grounds that it would ensure peace, stability and security during and after the polls. While stressing that the party would abide by the spirit and letter of the Abuja Accord, he said the repeat of the 2011 post-election violence where youth corps members and other innocent Nigerians were killed should not repeat itself in 2015. He said: “The basis on which the APC is agitating for the exclusion of soldiers from the election by sponsoring court cases is patently dubious and untenable. “The attempt by the APC to discredit the use of soldiers by promoting some misleading audio footage of the so- called rigging during the Ekiti governorship election, in which one Captain Sagir Koli was the dramatis personae, is childish and absurd.”
