Falana: Deployment of soldiers in Rivers elections illegal

Femi Falana, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says the deployment of army personnel for elections in Rivers state is illegal.

The Nigerian army had been indicted by a fact-finding committee set up by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the suspended electoral process in the state.

In a statement on Wednesday, Falana argued that the Nigerian armed forces could only be deployed for elections on the call of INEC.

“It is pertinent to point out that as a result the several cases filed by the chieftains of the former ACN and CPC as well as APC from 2003 – 2015 our courts declared the deployment of the armed forces in the conduct of elections in Nigeria illegal and unconstitutional,” he said.

“Consequently, the amendments of the Electoral Act 2010 on March 27, 2015 empowered INEC to deploy security agencies during elections. Specifically, Section 29(3) of the Electoral Act  as amended provides that:

“Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law and for purposes of securing the vote, the Commission shall be responsible for requesting for the deployment of relevant security personnel necessary for elections or registration of voters and shall assign them in the manner determined by the Commission in consolation with the relevant security agencies:

“Provided that the Commission shall only request for the employment of the Nigerian Armed Forces only for the purposes of securing the distribution and delivery of election materials and protection of elections officials.

“From the information at our disposal the Nigerian Army was not deployed by the INEC to provide security in any of the collation centres in Rivers State during the Governorship election on March 9, 2019. Neither were they deployed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to usurp police powers at the collation centres.”

The senior advocate cited a 2014 case, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government deployed armed soldiers in Ekiti state for the governorship election. A week before the election, the army had also banned two APC governors from entering the state, and during the election, voters were reportedly subjected to harassment by the armed troops.

Falana said the court of appeal condemned the militarisation of the election, and embarrassed by the judicial indictment, the authorities of the Nigerian army probed the intimidation of voters in Ekiti state and flushed out the military personnel who were involved.