The political advocacy group Fix PDP, Fix Nigeria has condemned the planned deployment of soldiers to Zamfara State for the bye-election scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, warning that such militarization of the electoral process undermines democratic norms.
In a statement signed by Aminu Muktar from Katsina State, the group called on the Chief of Army Staff to immediately recall the soldiers back to the barracks, stressing that elections are a civil matter and not a war.
> “Election is a civil matter and not war. We need our soldiers fighting bandits and insurgents in many places where farmers cannot access their farms, children cannot go to school, businesses are shut down, and people travel in fear of kidnappers and being killed,” the statement read.
The group expressed concern that while ordinary Nigerians are under siege from rising insecurity across the North-West and North-East, the Army is being drawn into electoral assignments, diverting attention from its primary responsibility of protecting the country from internal and external threats.
Fix PDP Fix Nigeria argued that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the police, and other civil security agencies are constitutionally mandated to provide election security, and that dragging the military into politics sends a dangerous signal about the state of Nigeria’s democracy.
The statement further urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to ensure that soldiers are deployed only where national security demands their presence, not for elections, insisting that “our democracy must be defended by civil institutions, while our soldiers defend our borders and fight insecurity.”
With the Zamfara bye-election expected to draw close attention, civil society groups and observers have also raised concerns about the increasing militarization of polls in Nigeria.