Date: 2018-12-10

The Alternative Party of Nigeria governorship candidate in Kwara State, Abubakar Muhammed, and the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy governorship candidate in Taraba State, Kamaluddeen Soje, have warned the Federal Government against deploying the military in states for the 2019 general elections, saying soldiers should not take over the job of the police.

The two candidates spoke during a media interactive session on Saturday under the Young Aspirants Leadership Fellowship. The session was organised by a non-governmental organisation, Youngstars Development Initiative and supported by the Ford Foundation.

Muhammed said the Federal Government must build the confidence of Nigerians to go out for elections without a "militarisation of the elections."

He said, "The planned involvement of the military in the 2019 elections is one aspect which is suspicious. This has bothered me because of the experience I had while contesting a local government election in the state. Soldiers were deployed and some so-called violent voters were killed instead of being arrested. I don't think there is any reason why soldiers should be involved in our electoral processes.

"We need to build confidence in our electorates and allow the police to do their job. We should be able to go into elections without a militarisation of the process."

Also, the MRDD governorship candidate in Taraba, Soje, said, (I don't think we need the military. The military is stretched; they are the personnel in the North-East fighting the Boko Haram insurgency and vandalism in the South-South. I believe the 2019 general elections don’t call for their deployments. The police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps operatives should be able to provide adequate security during the elections."