A coalition of human rights groups based in the south eastern part of Nigeria have condemned the acceptance of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai to carry out the threat against ballot box snatchers by President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
The group, under the aegis of Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights & Democracy Organizations (a coalition of 22 human rights & democracy organizations) said it was suspicious that such orders have not been given to the military by the president on members of the Boko Haram terrorists or killer herdsmen and other violent organizations.<\/p>\n
The group said the acceptance calls to question the competence of the Chief of Army Staff, saying that modern day soldiering include \u201csharp mental, forensic and scientific soldiering, but in the Nigerian Army of Buratai\u2019s era, the likes of Buratai\u2019s military generalship is earned through civilian butcheries, locomotive and archaic soldiering as well as litany of other in-service atrocities and immoral conducts.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nA press statement signed by the head of the groups, Mr Emeka Umeagbalasi and made available to our correspondent in Awka, Anambra State, stated that, \u201cTherefore, the COAS\u2019s re-ordered killing on Nigeria\u2019s Election Day is nothing short of preemptive and psychological terrorization of the country\u2019s 72 plus million PVC holders particularly those in the Southeast, South-south and potential opposition voters in the North and Southwest Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the analysis of the COAS\u2019s \u201cvote against PMB and die\u201d statement and associated threats, the Nigerian Army has singled out four South-south States of Rivers, Delta, Cross River and Akwa Ibom for Election Day military siege, infliction of widespread fears and brutal suppression of the electoral wishes of voters in the areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group said it is not surprised by the actions of the military which has tended to favour the incumbent president, saying that Nigerian Army must also have been frustrated by the eleventh hour suspension of election boycott calls in the Southeast and South-south and decided to do it the hard way; in the context of \u201cthe lesser the voters\u2019 turnout in the areas, the brighter the rigging chances in favor of their C-in-C\u201d<\/p>\n
It said there are still fears that killings may occur between 6am of 22nd February to 6pm of the 23rd January, and that any such development would leave the military culpable.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecifically, the COAS and his squad of kaki goons shall be held responsible for killings or deaths investigatively traced to the doorsteps of the Nigerian Army from 6pm, today, 22nd Feb 2019 to 6pm tomorrow, Saturday, 23rd Feb 2019. There is also high possibility of holding the Army and its COAS culpable in the event of any killing that may occur between 6pm Sunday, Feb 24th to 6pm Monday, Feb 25th 2019,\u201d the groups said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A coalition of human rights groups based in the south eastern part of Nigeria have condemned the acceptance of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai to carry out the threat against ballot box snatchers by President Muhammadu Buhari. The group, under the aegis of Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights & Democracy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":5138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,16],"tags":[46,97,38,251,211],"class_list":["post-5136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-parties","tag-army","tag-buhari","tag-election","tag-inec","tag-vote"],"yoast_head":"\n