The 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has expressed disappointment over the report of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fact-finding committee on the circumstances that led to the suspension of the Rivers State electoral process, which report allegedly indicted the army in the violence.
A statement issued on Monday night and signed on behalf of the 6 Division by the deputy director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Aminu Iliyasu, said the army worked hard to assist during the governorship and state House of Assembly elections, to ensure a peaceful and violence-free poll, expressing shock that INEC would turn around to blame it for the crisis.
The army further stated that the Rivers State Police Command, which earlier investigated the attack on military personnel by political thugs and took media men round various hospitals to visit the victims, could not deliver its report to the INEC fact-finding committee that visited the state recently.
Iliyasu, in the statement, claimed that the committee was not fair in its report, stressing that the report did not feature the Nigerian Army’s defense on the alleged violence.
Iliyasu stated that, instead of balancing the report, the committee only indicted the army in the electoral violence in Rivers State.
The Nigerian Army further threatened to review existing joint activities with the Rivers State Police Command, if it fails to tell the public the truth about the state elections, especially how the military helped in preventing violence and aided in peaceful polls.
The statement read: “Headquarters 6 Division, Nigerian Army (NA), has observed with dismay and sense of betrayal the statement made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, on March 15, 2019. The statement, according to INEC, was the findings of its fact-finding committee that assessed the situation in Rivers State.
“It is, however, pertinent to note that representatives of the 6 Division met with the fact-finding committee on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, at the INEC headquarters in Port Harcourt, and had honest discussions and made a written submission to aid the committee on its task. Regrettably, none of the division’s input from any of the findings of INEC was made public. This clearly indicates a lack of trust by an institution that the army sacrificed so much to assist in the course of performing their role.”
