Politics

Wike Accused Nigerian Army Of Attempted Coup In Rivers State

Published

5 years ago

Oct 19, 2019.

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has accused the Nigerian Army of an attempted coup in last general elections in the state.
Wike stressed that the army attempted to subvert the will of the people during the last general elections in the state by being partisan.
The Governor revealed this while receiving the joint National Assembly Committee on Army at the Government House in Port Harcourt the state’s capital on Friday.
He said “The Army has supported us in terms of fighting insecurity and kidnapping. They have worked with other security agencies to improve the security of the State.
“But they played very negative roles during the elections. The Army was involved in ballot snatching and attempts to subvert the will of Rivers people.”
Governor Wike noted that the Army needed to be deployed to where there are security challenges, adding that, the neglect of the constitutional role of the Army has negatively affected its image and general perceptions.
He lamented that Army has now become bodyguards to people as they are easily seen attached to different individuals even as the country suffered security-wise.
Wike said “The Army should be sent to where there are serious security infractions.
“But the reality today is that everyone now has soldiers attached to them while the general security of the country suffers. The role of the Army is to defend the territorial integrity of the country and maintain general security. The Army must return to their primary responsibility”.
The Governor however, stressed that despite the shortcomings of the Nigerian Army his administration had continued to support the Army, adding that, no other state could compete with the state in terms of support accorded the Nigerian Army.
He said “There is no Governor in this country that can challenge the level of support that we have availed the Nigerian Army. We funded the operationalization of the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army. I have never turned my back on the Army or any security agency in terms of logistics and funding.”
Meanwhile, Wike also stressed that the N100bllion allocated to the Nigerian Army in 2020 budget was grossly inadequate for the Army to perform effectively.
He challenged the Buhari administration to provide account of the $1 billion withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account for the equipping of the Nigerian Army.