A pro-democracy group, the National Frontiers has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to demilitarise electoral process as it conducts re-run election in the Southern Ijaw region of Bayelsa state on Saturday, January 9.
The group, which began a Sit-out on Monday 4th January 2016, at the Abuja Unity Fountain, posited that the military should rather be deployed to the Southern Ijaw for election duties as a backup to the police.
It noted that the events of December 5, 2015, when the Bayelsa governorship election was conducted particularly in the Southern Ijaw Local government area of the State, showed the desperation of some persons to violate democratic tenets and ultimately, the rights and dignity of the people of the Local government, particularly the Women and Young people.
“We are also demanding that everyone arrested for electoral violence during the last governorship election in Bayelsa and other elections should be immediately prosecuted irrespective of their status.
“The government must criminalize rigging and electoral violence as a way of safeguarding our democracy.
“The will of the people must be allowed to prevail and INEC must resist every external pressure seeking to use the commission to manipulate the outcome of the elections in Southern Ijaw local government and future elections in Nigeria.
“We restate that election is not war and not a do or die affair,” the National Frontiers said in a statement on Friday.
