Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has raised the alarm over what he described as desperate moves by the Senator representing Benue North West district, George Akume, to use armed soldiers to manipulate the governorship and state Assembly election in favour of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The governor also urged the Federal Government not to use the military to rig the coming elections in Benue State saying that the will of the electorate must prevail.
Ortom, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, alleged that security information reaching him indicated that Senator Akume, leader of the APC in Benue State during a meeting with his supporters, disclosed that he had requested heavy military presence from the Federal Government to enable the party rig the coming elections in its favour.
He alleged that the party plots to use the military to chase away voters in areas considered to be strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to pave the way for rigging by the APC.
He alleged, for instance, that Akume, in an interview with Channels Television, had boasted that his party would use security men during the March 9 polls.
He said, “He made it clear that they would use violence during the elections.
“We find it necessary to draw the attention of security forces and other stakeholders to these threats by APC so that urgent preventive measures can be taken to guarantee free and fair conduct of the elections.
“We urge the Federal Government to remember that Benue is part of the federation called Nigeria and the people of the state deserve to be given equal protection to vote for candidates of their choice in a peaceful atmosphere not a militarized one, as the APC is planning to do.
“We urge the Presidency to resist the temptation to send soldiers to Senator George Akume to enable APC rig elections in Benue State. Such a decision will not only be anti-democratic but also unconstitutional.
“The Nigerian military has no role in casting or counting of votes, therefore, any attempt to use them to manipulate the coming governorship and state Assembly elections in favour of APC in Benue State will be resisted”.
He appealed for a level playing field in the coming elections and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be neutral and fair to all parties saying, “anything short of this would be unacceptable.”
