Political actors are undermining constitutional democracy – HURIWA

Oru Leonard and Sarah Domozu

A leading pro-democracy and non-governmental organization,Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA) has said that the political actors are undermining Nigeria’s constitutional democracy.

The National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said this at Abuja during press briefing on Monday, February 18, 2019.

Comrade Onwubiko who noted that over 5 Billion naira was lost as a result of the INEC postponement, advised INEC to make sure that the election holds at the rescheduled date as failure would be regarded as a coup, and treasonable offence to Nigerians.

He said INEC does not have the power to stop the politicians from campaigning and advised INEC to avoid crisis that will destabilize the country.

“INEC had four good years to prepare for the elections and with the bogus budget of five times more than previous budgets”, he said.

Comrade Owubiko advised the electoral body to upgrade their operations by using the modern technology just like the banks are doing.

He also advised journalists to verify facts before sending them for publishing, citing the Kaduna State killings as a case of unverifiable news.That the news of death in Kaduna was not substantiated.

However, he commended the Army for being proactive in the Security situation of the country ahead of the 2019 Elections.

“The Army launched Operation Safe Conduct and also eahead to establish a situation room for real-time monitoring”,He said.

“We must reinstate that the current Heads of the military are thoroughbred professionals who respect the constitution. Our observations and interfaces have shown us an incredible amount of commitments on the part of the Nigerian Army for a peaceful, free and fair elections. They went as far as warning soldiers and police to stay out of polling centers when in uniforms or armed just as they are banned from parading about  with political office holders during the elections proper. These are uncommon attributes of pragmatic commitments to stick to their statutory functions and remain apolitical.

“HURIWA must affirm without equivocation based on empirical proofs that the Army was also proactive in arresting fake soldiers who were deployed by some disgruntled political urchins in Imo state and immediately handed these dubious thugs to the police for prosecution.

“This is to say the least, a clear demonstration of the will to protect constitutional democracy and ensure peaceful conduct of the polls.

“HURIWA recalled that five Army officers suspected to be fake soldiers were last week paraded at the Imo State Police Command headquarters in Owerri.

“The Commander, 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze Owerri, Brigade General H. I. Bature stated this during the signing of the peace accord by the Imo State governorship candidates ahead of the general elections”, he said.

He also noted that two out of the five suspects were caught escorting a politician but the army commander did not mention the name of the politician said to be enjoying the security of the fake army officers.

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