By Mathew Dadiya & Jude Opara, Abuja

Worried by the antics of the political class and the scheming to get favours from the military, ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor has said that security agencies will not succumb to pressure from politicians to compromise the general elections.

General Irabor, therefore called on Nigerians to put their trust in them as they remain committed to maintaining neutrality.

He also said that the armed forces will keep faith in a directive by the Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari for the military to remain neutral during the elections.

Irabor spoke when he appeared at the 61st Ministerial Media Briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said some criminal elements may try to compromise security personnel, noting that necessary measures are being put in place to ensure that they obey President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive.

According to him, personnel are being trained to be more professional while Standard Operations Practice (SOP) before, during and after the elections have been codified and distributed to them.

Asked how far the military is prepared to go to resist pressure to compromise elections given President Buhari’s directive for neutrality, he said: “I’m glad that you reiterated the commander in chief‘s directive to the armed forces.

“I’m afraid you say you worry. Rather than worry, I would rather think that trust should be anchored. Why?

“Of course, there will always be pressure from all quarters, wanting to induce security forces, not just the military, the security force the police. And that’s what criminal enterprise is all about. That is what something wrong is all about.

“But what makes the difference is the professional approach to dealing with those issues. And that’s what the military we are committed to doing.

“Now, the reason why we have ramped up our training in that regard, sensitization, a lot of engagement across, you know, the formations and units, is being undertaken. And then, more so to now articulate a code of conduct for all our personnel, which has been done and distributed.

“So what? Why should they act before, during and after the elections? These are being codified in the SOP that has been issued to them. So, it remains the duty of the commanders to ensure that the directive, as indicated and the contents of the SOP are adhered to by every person in the armed forces.

“So, please cease worrying. Rather, trust and also engage others to trust that we will keep faith to these desires,” Gen Irabor said.

Gen Irabor noted that the armed forces have heightened operational engagement across the country to tackle contemporary and emerging threats, putting contingency plans to facilitate the smooth conduct of the 2023 General Elections in support of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in conjunction with other security agencies.

He said efforts are in place to safeguard critical national infrastructure, assuring that the armed forces are committed to meeting their constitutional imperatives to ensure a safe and secure Nigeria.

The CDS denied that soldiers are targeting some people in parts of the country, particularly the southeast, for rougher treatment, saying that it is possible because the military is composed of people from all parts of the federation.

“The Armed Forces are peopled by people from 774 local governments of this country. And there is no single unit or formation where you have only a group of soldiers coming from a particular part of the country.

“So, what will be the interest? Sometimes, the consciousness of the people is what has been transmitted to their consciousness. Perhaps, it might be necessary to interrogate them and see how we can reconscientise our people to know that. We are in this together.

“What do I stand to gain? Yes, I’m the CDS. I know the officers and men that I lead, I know what we have transmitted into them by the way of training, I know the fundamentals, our ethics. So, it’s what you don’t know that makes illusions.

“And I think I will also join to appeal to you, to reconscientise our people for them to know the apparatus of the state in terms of looking at the issue of security are for the good of the people and not against the people. We are not against the people.

“So, there’s no way the military will go and shoot people. It’s not possible. We won’t do that and it was not done during EndSARS,” he explained.

The Chief of Defense Staff also spoke of the key achievements of the military in the effort to keep the country safe including more recruitment into all branches of the security services, routing of insurgency and banditry as well as the action to curtail oil theft leading to increase in crude oil production.

He also said that over 300,000 people have been freed from the hands of abductors since 2014 while refugees who fled the northeast due to the insurgency have started to return.

He said that former insurgents now being trained will graduate in February next year before their reintegration into society.

On the fight against banditry, he said the armed forces have strangulated bandits’ supply chain and destroyed several hideouts.

According to him, the military efforts have averted several communal clashes and restored socio-economic activities in troubled areas while several criminal elements were arrested including drug dealers, weapon suppliers, kidnappers, cultists and religious extremists.

“The President directed the CDS to coordinate the kinetic and non-kinetic interventions to curb oil thefts.

“Through several joint operations, security operatives destroyed 959 metal tanks, 737 ovens, 452 dug-out pits, 355 cooking pots, 179 wooden boats, recovered 35.8 million litres of crude, 22 million litres of diesel, 25,000 litres of PMS, 207 pumping machines and 12 welding machines,” he added.

On crude oil theft, he noted Nigeria’s colossal loss of oil revenue as of 2014 which was about N1.92 Trillion, saying that piracy and kidnapping were unprecedented just as several illegal pipeline connections were used to steal crude oil and illegal entry of unauthorized vessels undetected.

Gen Irabor asserted that between January and July 2022, Nigeria lost about 437, 000 barrels of oil per day to criminal entities.

Irabor said as part of the solution, the Falcon Eye Maritime intelligence facility was commissioned in Jul 2021, offshore Patrol Vessels were purchased, and operational deployments and capabilities were rejigged.