A prominent group, Media For Morals, has expressed what it described as its full support for the Nigerian Army, particularly the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Tukur Buratai, for vowing to ensure the armed forces remain apolitical and professional in the discharge of their duties.

In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Dr. Mairo Mudi, the group also berated the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for allegedly encouraging lawlessness in the armed forces, by asking soldiers to disobey orders made by their superiors.

“It is really deeply saddening, just as the army leadership has observed, that someone who wants to lead Nigeria and be the commander-in-chief of its armed forces is the very person inciting officers and men of the armed forces to disobey lawful orders made by constituted authorities,” Mudi said in the statement.

She added: “All the hullabaloo about president Buhari’s order to the military and the police, to deal ruthlessly with ballot box snatchers, is only indicative that some politicians, obviously of the opposition stock, were reliant on that method to get to power through rigging.”

She added that General Buratai’s directives are well in order, when viewed with a dispassionate mind, and within the context of the law, “as the military, not just the army, cannot turn down a directive made by the president, who, constitutionally, is their Commander-in-Chief; and, more so, when that order is aimed at ensuring the credible election that Nigerians have been yearning for is entrenched.”

While asking, rhetorically, whether Buhari’s shoot-at-sight order was not similar to the one issued by former president Obasanjo, on OPC, Mudi said: ‘’It is a call to caution, to scare away mischief makers who want to truncate our democracy, through election rigging.”

‘’What this means is that once individuals or political parties do not plan to rig, they have no reason to bother about the call.

The army is a disciplined institution that knows what is right. It has been protecting us for years now, and will not just turn its guns against innocent civilians.

The President ought to be celebrated for this patriotic call.

https://www.akelicious.net/2019/02/ballot-snatching-groups-berate-atiku.html