News Editor
A retired Brigadier-General, Umar Ashim, has slammed the Nigerian Army for asserting its Armoured Personnel Carrier into a crowd of unarmed peaceful protesters along Lafia-Makurdi road, Nasarawa State on Monday. They crowd made up largely of women were protesting the recent judgement of the Court of Appeal that upturned the verdict of the Tribunal that declared PDP’s David Ombugadu winner of the march 18th 2023 gubernatorial election.
The Army had in a statement signed by its Director of Public Relations, Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu, on Tuesday alleged that the protesters pelted the troops and attacked patrol vehicles deployed to maintain law and order and decongest the road.
The Army also alleged that the protesters blocked the highway, causing tortuous traffic gridlock to motorists.
Reacting however, Ashim said the statement was scandalous and warned the Nigerian Army against taking side in political matters in order not to escalate the already tensed political atmosphere in the country.
“This is a very scandalous statement from the Nigerian Army. Where were the Nigeria Police, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, as well as the DSS dor the army to undertake the task of crowd and road traffic control?
“Was it the role of the military to make the first contact with peaceful agitators or even violent ones? Someone should have been relieved of his command for unprofessional deployment of troops,” Ashim queried in a statement he issued personally.
Ashim said the incident was the highest level of untrained military tactics that could ever be imagined and warned that the military must, as much as possible, remain apolitical and shun overzealousness.
“Erring troops must be disciplined appropriately in order not to escalate the already tensed political atmosphere in the country where the electoral votes are subverted by the umpires and backed by the judiciary who are induced by the so called politicians that have failed to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.
“I hope that this candid viewpoint shall be taken to the highest level of the military hierarchy for further necessary action,” the statement reads further.
Residents of the State predominantly women dressed in black clothes and carrying leaves had taken to the streets of Lafia in peaceful protest over the judgement of the Appellate Court, Abuja reinstating Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the 2023 gubernatorial election in the State.
They insisted that as declared by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal(GEPT) in October, PDP’s David Ombugadu won the election and appealed to the Supreme Court for justice.
According to reports and viral videos, armed troops were seen engaging the protesters and rammed into them on Monday, November 27, at Stadium Junction, Lafia, injuring at least three of the protesters.
