The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned what it termed attempts by President Muhammadu Buhari to politicize and compromise the nation’s military by dragging in Service Chiefs to participate in his re-election campaign rally.
The PDP in a statement on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, described the participation of the Service Chiefs in Buhari’s campaign rally tagged, ‘Next Level’ as completely unacceptable and objectionable.
The party argued that it sent a very wrong signal to the public regarding the expected professionalism, neutrality and detachment of the institution of the military from partisan politics and cannot be justified under any guise.
“Such participation in partisan politics is a dangerous dimension as it will not only erode the confidence which the citizens repose on the military ahead of the election, but also a recipe for discord and partisan disagreements within the rank and file of the military, result in mutual suspicion in the force and whittle its effectiveness in defending the nation.
“The PDP knows that President Buhari, in the desperation to rig and foist himself on the nation in the 2019 election, will stop at nothing in his attempt to compromise and desecrate our institutions, but doing so on the military is a clear invitation to crisis and derailment of our democracy.
“The PDP insists that the state and particularly its apparatus of power must be separated from partisan politics and we caution President Buhari not to further divide the nation and set the people on collision course with security forces, as such will spell doom for our nation.
“Finally, the PDP urges the military high command to be wary of the antics of the Buhari presidency, which is now known to be bent at compromising the Armed Forces ahead of the elections and take decisive steps towards insulating its personnel and formations from political manipulation of the Buhari Presidency.
“The PDP believes in the professionalism of the Nigeria military and we insist that this must not be allowed to be eroded by President Buhari’s desperation to remain in power, even after being rejected at the polls by the people,” the party said.
