MARCH 25,
Some riot policemen.
Soldiers and riot policemen are on some highways in the North Central, Osun and Kaduna States with just three days to the presidential and National Assembly elections.
The security personnel are seen searching vehicles, forcing motorists and travellers to spend longer hours on the roads.
Findings by The PUNCH show that the security checks are intensified as more residents flee from the North over fear of post-election violence.
The fleeing residents, who are leaving states like Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe and Plateau are heading southwards.
Our correspondent, who passed through the Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia-Guma-Makurdi routes on Tuesday (yesterday) learnt that additional security checkpoints and men had been deployed in the last couple of days.
A journey of about three hours from Abuja to Makurdi, Benue State in normal times, took close to six hours on Tuesday due to the heavy security presence.
An officer at one of the checkpoints on the highways said, “Political tension has built up everywhere and politicians are looking for ways to outdo one another.
“Security agencies have a responsibility to prevent any act likely to lead to a breach of public peace.
“At times like this, you don’t rule out the possibility of hired persons transporting arms and other dangerous weapons. So, it is better to prevent than lament later.”
The officer added that people were travelling to the South over fear that “something ugly could happen during or after the elections.”
He stated, “Despite all the assurances given to them not to flee, some continue to do so.
“This has been a daily occurrence, but we keep assuring them that nothing will happen.”
One of the fleeing people, Godwin Nzeagu, told one of our correspondents that he would “never” allow what happened to him after the 2011 presidential poll to recur.
Nzeagu, a textile dealer, who hails from Anambra State, claimed that he escaped death by a whisker when rampaging youths attacked his business premises in 2011 soon after the results of the elections were declared.
“All these assurances do not give any guarantee that you are safe. You can’t tell what will cause the mayhem,” he said.
In Lafia, Nasarawa State, operatives of the Department of State Services are seen patrolling the town with lethal weapons in an apparent ‘show of force.’
The DSS operatives wear the service’ black vests with DSS boldly printed on the back.
In Osogbo and Ede in Osun State, many residents woke up on Tuesday to see the soldiers stopping and searching motorists.
A resident, Segun Adeyemi, said the presence of the armed soldiers on Ilobu Road in Osogbo caused panic among them.
Although he explained that the soldiers did not harass anybody, he said he had thought that policemen would be used to carry out such task since a court had restrained the Federal Government from deploying soldiers for the polls.
It was gathered that some soldiers, who were also deployed in Akoda in Ede, caused traffic snarl with their checkpoints on Tuesday.
Efforts to speak to the Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Army Engineering Construction Regiment, Ede, Capt. O. Olaoluwa, proved abortive.
Calls put across to his telephone were not answered and a text message sent to him was also not responded to.
But the APC in the state has criticised the Federal Government for disobeying the High Court order barring the deployment of soldiers for the elections.
The spokesperson for the APC in the state, Kunle Oyatomi, said in a statement on Tuesday that the Federal Government planned to use the military to harass and arrest APC leaders on the eve of the elections.
The statement read, “President Goodluck Jonathan has a duty to respect the law, otherwise his apparent disregard of court orders in the run-up to presidential and general elections will constitute the greatest threat yet to the survival of democracy in Nigeria.
‘‘From the look of things in Osun, regarding the deployment of soldiers for the election, it would appear that President Jonathan has no intention whatsoever to respect the series of Federal High Court-rulings, not to deploy soldiers for the conduct of March 28 and April 11 elections.
“Soldiers were sighted yesterday in some parts of the state. The Federal Government’s led Peoples Democratic Party planned to use the military to harass, arrest APC leaders on the eve of the elections as they did last August when over 700 APC leaders and members arrested and locked up in detention on the eve of the governorship election.
“If President Jonathan goes ahead to disregard the legal position on this matter as articulated in several Federal High Courts across the country, that would be worst contempt for the law, exhibited by any Nigerian head of state or President ever. The consequences for our fledgling democracy will be catastrophic.
“Jonathan should act in honourable manner like a Christian he claims to be by respecting the law, otherwise, he would be considered not better than the like of Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo and Idi Amin of Uganda, both of whom had the greatest disregard and disrespect for their countries’ laws and brought grief, that still resonates today.”
Also soldiers bave been deployed in areas considered as ‘flashpoints’ in Kaduna State.
The soldiers were seen by one of our correspondents erecting makeshift tents at the LEA Primary School Malali, St. Rita’s Catholic Church, Unguwn Yaro; Unguwan Kudu, Unguwan Sunday and Rigachukun areas of the state.
At Mando Motor Park, Hayin Banki and the Western Bypass, men of the Nigerian Air Force have been stationed in there.
One of the men, who spoke on condition of anonymity said that they were on “special duty.”
The police in the state have also intensified patrol of the metropolis and areas such as Alkali Road, NEPA Roundabout, Golf Course Road and Isa Kaita Junction. They have stationed their patrol vehicles at the Police College/Constitution Road in Barnawa.
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