President Jonathan is now applauded as a dove calling for our humanity to be reinforced. His military tactics in Ekiti abd Osun Elections is now a point of reference in militarisation of democracy. will President Buhari take that route?

Read experts on Jonathan.
http://dailyindependentnig.com/2014/08/going-back-troops-deployment-jonathan/“We will not allow that. We will
make sure that Osun State is
properly policed.
“Whoever calls himself a thug or
whatever and finds himself in
Osun state that day will be dealt
with according to the law.
“It will be one man, one vote; one
woman, one vote; one youth, one

 While confirming what we argue as the heavy militarisation of the Ekiti gubernatorial elections
in Ekiti State, the police chief, admitted that the number of troops, armoured tanks and
helicopters deployed in Ekiti were the highest ever to be deployed in any state in Nigeria for
electioneering purposes ... (Abubakar, cited in Okpi, 2014).

 cited in Okpi, 2014). Like a war zone, the troops took their positions. Almost every 100
metres from the entry point of the state, police officers and soldiers mounted various check
points, with blood-hound dogs sniffing for any likely breach of peace by supporters of the
various political parties (Akinnaso, 2014).
What seemed to have bothered political observers about the military invasion in Ekiti was the
incident that transpired 48 hours before the elections. Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi,
and his Edo and Kano State counterparts, Adams Oshiomhole and Rabiu Kwankwaso were
denied entry into Ekiti State to attend the last APC mega rally by military personnel
purportedly acting on the order of the Presidency (Akinnaso 2014). Other leaders of the party,
including the Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, and the former governor of Lagos State,
Bola Tinubu, were also barred from taking off at the Akure airport after the rally, leaving them
with the option of travelling by road (Akinnaso, 2014).
The siege by the military on Ekiti was so severe that moving from a 5-minute walking distance
to the other was virtually impossible due to the heavy security lock down in the state on the day
of the election. As Odigie-Oyegun, the national chairman of Nigeria’s main opposition party
noted,
It is unfortunate that under the guise of providing security, Ekiti State
has been turned into a war zone. It has been over-run by armed
security personnel with the intention of intimidating the opposition
and the voters as well. Our electoral laws are clear that every polling
unit should have one unarmed policeman and the military should
have no role in the election. But in Ekiti, armed police and military
personnel have been deployed in their numbers and the question we
are asking is whose purpose are they going to serve? (Odigie-Oyegun
cited in Obogo, 2014).
Commenting further on the siege which Nigeria’s security forces laid on the prominent
members of the opposition in the build up to the Ekiti elections, a Governor (Adams
Oshiomole) elected under the platform of the opposition party (APC), argued that the decision
by Nigeria’s security agencies to prevent him and other senior members of his party from
attending the political rally was instigated by the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He
expressed his frustration thus:
I have the right to go to any part of Nigeria and if you can stop a
Governor, you treat him as a miscreant, it’s not about me, it’s about the
 office, then you reduce the country to something close to a ‘Banana
Republic’. These things happen all the time, that’s why I always argue
that we need strong institutions rather than strong personalities
(Oshiomole, cited in The Sun, 22 June, 2014).
Lending their voices to the perceived militarisation of the Ekiti elections, civil society groups,
under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Nigeria Bar Association
(NBA) also condemned the conduct of the law enforcement agent in a press conference
addressed by the Chairman of the Ado-Ekiti branch of NBA, Joseph Adewunmi, and the
chairman of the Ekiti State chapter of NUJ, Laolu Omosilade (Okoro, 2014). They argued that
“the heavy presence of security personnel in the elections could provide an avenue for the ...rigging

for further reading see

Election as Warfare: Militarization of Elections and the Challenges of Democratic
Consolidation in Nigeria

Azeez Olaniyan, PhD1
& Olumuyiwa Babatunde Amao2


Abstract
One major issue emerging from the governorship elections conducted in the
Ekiti and Osun States of Nigeria is the presence of heavy security forces
during their conduct. Platoons of security operatives, including military
officers, were drafted to lock down the states shortly before, during and
immediately after the elections with immediate consequences on peoples’
rights and freedom. Members of the opposition were specifically targeted.
The pertinent questions to ask then are: What accounts for this? What are
the implications on democratic consolidation? This study seeks to interrogate
the foregoing questions.

God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria.