The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, has warned those planning to snatch ballot box in the coming general elections to shelve their plans.
This is even as the Army Chief reacted to a statement attributed to the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, where he asked the Nigerian Army to disregard President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive they they deal ruthlessly with ballot box snatchers in the coming general elections.
According to Buratai, “Atiku’s statement was most unfortunate given that he was in the highest level of government in the country before and knows fully that the Nigerian Army in particular and the military, in general, are meant to obey the orders of the Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces to the latter,said they will treat Buhari’s latest order with exception.
He further asked the former Vice President not only to withdraw the statement but to also apologise for attempting to invite the army against what he termed as “constituted authority” it was meant to fully obey.
Buratai stated this at a meeting he held with the Principal Staff Officers, General Officers Commanding and Brigade Commanders ahead of the polls billed to commence this Saturday
The army chief warned politicians and their supporters against testing the will of the army, insisting that those found to have violated the law, will be treated in line with President Buhari’s directive.
