Elections: IYC warns security agencies against jungle justice

By Rex Emmanuel

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has warned security agencies against relying on the position of President Muhammdu Buhari on ballot box snatching to perpetrate jungle Justice during the elections.

The council condemned Buhari’s position against electoral offenders describing the President’s warning that ballot box snatchers would do so at the expense of their lives as undemocratic and less presidential.

The IYC in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Mr. Alfred Kemepado, said its members would not tolerate anything illegal, including the snatching of ballot boxes to undermine the sanctity of the electoral process within its territories.

Kemepado, however, said that the desire and resolve to ensure credible, free and fair elections should involve the promotion of undemocratic values.

He said the President’s speech had the capacity to instigate violence and make law enforcement agents take laws into their hands.

Noting that Nigeria must be built and sustained as a country of law and order and not a country of jungle justices, the IYC scribe appealed to Buhari and other candidates to desist from heating up the polity.

He said: “The President must realize the place of his body language, which may have made it possible for his loyalists like Governor El-rufai to issue inciting and provocative statements like that of the “body bag” speech.

“The oil of the Niger Delta is not available to fund body bags but to promote the unity of Nigeria that will be subjected to restructuring for the benefit of all Nigerians.

“We call on International bodies to come to the aid of harmless and willing electorates who are willing to express their franchise to get the needed change, so they are not shot at or butchered by the Nigerian military or police in the guise of harvesting ballot box snatchers.

“The IYC reaffirm the commitment of the Ijaw Nation to align itself with the laws of Nigeria, and will resist any form of ballot box snatching and electoral violence. This we will do across party lines, as free and fair election is what all Ijaw youths desire, which is for our collective national interest, and for the betterment of One Nigeria.”