Army Denies Allegations Of Misconduct During Presidential Elections

Nigerian Army has denied the allegations of misconduct by the soldiers during presidential elections held last month.

Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, who also serves as the spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, shared his reaction to the allegations on Monday.

He said that "the attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to a deliberately calculated smear campaign in the social media and other fora against some of our senior commanders and officers," Punch reported.

He continued, "While these unconscionable acts are inexplicable, the motivations behind them are not far-fetched."

Brig. Gen. Nwachukwu explained that officers and men of the Nigerian Army were providing security support for the presidential and national assembly elections to happen in a manner that doesn't disturb the election process and prevent ill-intentioned groups to do any violent acts.

However, Brig. Gen. Nwachukwu further explained that "some interest groups that were effectively prevented from hatching their nefarious plots to influence the course of the elections through violence are understandably piqued by this assertiveness of the Nigerian Army."

He further shared that the Nigerian Army will continue to serve the nation as and when required including during elections.

Moreover, Brig. Gen. Nwachukwu assured the citizens that "any misconduct against any of its personnel would be responsibly investigated, and any subsequent substantiation would attract the appropriate disciplinary sanctions in accordance with established practices and extant laws."

He urged all the Nigerians to ignore the groups and individuals who are propagating mischief against the army due to their ill intentions.

"We would continue to work with sister services and other security agencies to meet all security-related expectations of citizens as enshrined in the laws of the federation," the statement concluded.

The statement came ahead of upcoming governorship and state houses of assembly elections, which are supposed to be held on March 18.

Presidential elections were held on Feb. 25. Following the elections, there were allegations of misconduct against the Nigerian Army for supporting All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Tinubu.

Other parties - People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) - rejected the outcome of the presidential election result and said they will fight a legal battle in court.

INEC, which is responsible for overseeing elections held in the country, also came under fire for not being fair. The Southern and Middle Belt Alliance (SMBA) asked the chairperson of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu to resign from the post if "fair and credible" elections are not guaranteed.