Former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, weekend allayed fears raised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State over the use of soldiers during the August 9 governorship elections, saying similar move had produced positive results.
Ladoja, national leader of Accord, who spoke at his Bodija residence, Ibadan, recalled that the same security measures were used in the 2007 elections.
He argued that the use of security agents gave people sense of security in Ekiti State, but however, warned that the deployment of massive security in 2015 to states would not be possible.
“Soldiers have always supervised elections in Nigeria. So there is nothing new. In 2007 the GOC gave evidence at election petition tribunals. The deployment of heavy security in Ekiti was due to the hype at that time between the forces of PDP and APC. Maybe if security had not been deployed people may not have come out to vote. The fact that the election recorded more voters than ever before shows that people had confidence to come when they knew security was in place.
“But whatever happen in Osun and Ekiti cannot happen in Oyo state. Where will you get five police, two soldiers to man one pooling booth during 2015 general elections? Also the deluge of people moving around will not happen because all politicians will be in their states fighting for survival. so this should not disturb us. They are used because they are available and to tell the world that Nigeria can conduct free and fair elections. But we should get to a stage where we can monitor our elections by ourselves.”
