By Enyeribe Ejiogu, Lagos
Former Minister of Communications, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (retd) has urged the heads of the various security agencies to give Lagos State special attention, noting that the emerging mega-city has many flashpoints to warrant focused attention of the military and other security services during the forthcoming elections.
General Olanrewaju, a former General Officer Commanding (GOC), Third Armoured Division Nigerian Army, made the observation in reaction to the statement credited to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, on the urgency and necessity of deploying defence forces against threats by renegade elements of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who have said that elections would not hold in the Southeastern part of the country.
Explaining his position on election security, he said that Lagos being “Nigeria’s most complex federating unit, should be included among other states requiring special security attention to which the armed forces, Nigerian Police Force, Department of State Services and other security agencies Olanrewaju urged the Military High Command and other security organisations to take a particular look at major flashpoints in Lagos during elections, to ensure that no miscreants have the freedom of time to disrupt the process.
Olanrewaju’s call on the top military leadership became more urgent in light of the recent viral audio in which a local official was heard threatening violence against residents in Igbarra, Jakande in Etiosa Local Government Area, Lagos State, who fail to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming elections.
General Olanrewaju said: “We need this military assurance that a free, fair, and credible election will be held in Lagos State. We implore the Federal Government to deploy the military before, during and after the February 25 election.
“There are many flashpoints in Lagos State that make casting votes very difficult because of the activities of thugs, miscreants and street urchins. They are often used to create senseless disturbances in the strongholds of opponents, rending acceptance of results untenable.”
Recall that Irabor had assured Nigerians of the preparedness of the military to ensure that this year’s elections would hold peacefully in the Southeast states and in all parts of the country in spite of threats by criminal elements.
The CDS gave the assurance in Abuja at the 25th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari Scorecard Series, which featured the Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (Rtd), who presented the scorecard of the Ministry of Defence.
Responding to a question on the threat by the Simon Ekpa-led faction of IPOB to stop the elections in the Southeast Zone, Irabor said no person or group can stop the polls.
“The military is working in concert with the Police and other security agencies to ensure that the menace of criminalities from IPOB and Eastern Security Network are eliminated,” he said.
Irabor also collaborated with the position of the Minister of Defence that “no territory of Nigeria is under the control of the Boko Haram or any other terrorist group,” adding that all communities in the Northeast Zone of the country had been liberated from the criminal elements.