The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has said that there was nothing wrong with the deployment of soldiers in Ekiti State for the governorship elections scheduled to hold on Saturday.
The former Governor of Edo State made the point while speaking to newsmen at the National Secretariat of the APC after he had a closed-door meeting with the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, in Abuja, on Monday.
The former Labour leader was responding to questions about the deployment of 30, 000 policemen in Ekiti and whether soldiers should be deployed to strengthen the security arrangement.
Oshiomhole maintained that the number of policemen deployed should not be a talk point but their capacity to respond effectively to situations.
According to the immediate past Edo Governor, “Whether they should use the military or not, I don’ t think you want to argue that.
“Over the years, since 2003, 1999, the armed forces have always been deployed.
“Don’t forget, when I was in Edo state, I told people that I wanted the armed forces to be involved in the election because the rigging machine is serviced by criminals who are hardened and who are often hired.
“Now, if you have criminals wielding AK 47 rifles on an election day, and the police are overwhelmed, you want to say the army should not be deployed?
“We shouldn’t worry about who we deploy; I think we should all pray that however people are deployed that in the end , we are not counting dead bodies.”
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