The military and police have warned against any unlawful action by troublemakers ahead of the delivery of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja on Wednesday.
The Director of Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Tukur Gusau said in a statement that the security agencies would not condone any attempt to disrupt the peace.
“We have been maintaining peace and security in collaboration with other security agencies across the country,” Gusau said. “In Abuja, we have the Guards Brigade and the Army Headquarters Garrison in conjunction with other security agencies that have been on the ground to provide security in the FCT.”
He warned those planning to cause violence to discard the idea. “We will continue to do our own work, and if anybody wants to perpetrate any mayhem, we cannot fold our arms and be looking at them,” Gusau said. “We have to do our job.”
He said the security agencies would be on high alert on the day of the judgment and would not hesitate to take action against anyone who tries to cause trouble.
“On the (judgment) day, we will maintain our normal vigilance in conjunction with other security agencies,” Gusau said. “We can’t be doing our work and see somebody trying to unleash mayhem and we keep quiet. So, why are we outside (on patrol)?”
The statement from the military and police comes amid concerns that there could be violence in the wake of the judgment. The petition challenging the election victory of President Bola Tinubu has been widely seen as a test case for the country’s democracy.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had on March 1 declared Tinubu the president-elect because his party, the All Progressive Congress, APC, scored the majority of votes cast in the poll.
Both Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, the first runner-up in the election and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, the second runner-up, challenged the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the election.
