Condemnation has trailed the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Gen. Christopher Musa’s suggestion that the Military could intervene in the ongoing hunger protests.
The #EndBadGovernance protests, which have entered the third day, have recorded pockets of violence in parts of the country.
Several killings have been reported as security agents try to stop irate mobs from engaging in looting and destruction of property.
However, despite the efforts of the security agencies, various cases of looting and vandalization of public and private property have been reported.
Reacting to the development at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, the CDS said the Military is on standby, ready to intervene in the protest.
Musa said, “We are supporting the Police all through. We are just on standby. The Police are doing a good job; they are handling the situation for now.
“Unless it breaches beyond what they can handle, then the Military will step in.
“The Military is on standby and we are watching day and night.”
The Defence Chief’s statement has elicited outrage, with many Nigerians, including leaders of civil society organisations, CSOs, faulting the suggestion that the Military could engage the protesters.
In separate interviews with NewsNGR on Saturday, leaders of some CSOs further observed that the CDS has no constitutional powers to suggest that the Military could intervene in the protest.
Speaking with NewsNGR, Olu Omotayo, President of Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, CRRAN, stressed that the Military ought to take instructions from President Bola Tinubu, and as a result, the CDS was wrong to suggest that the defence forces could intervene in the protest, when the President had not given such instruction.
“In a democracy like Nigeria, it is not even the Chief of Defence Staff that should be saying the Military wants to come in. It is the President, who is the Commander in Chief, that should give the instruction. So it is the President that is supposed to say the Military might come in if there is need.
“It is unfortunate that some authorities don’t even know their role under the Constitution. It is not the Chief of Defence Staff that will deploy troops, it is the President,” Omotayo said.
He added that the Military can only intervene in the protest if it turns into a riot.
Omotayo, a former Zonal Director, South-East, of the Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, added, “They are saying they will come in if the situation degenerates.
“Although the Police have not said they are overwhelmed, the problem is that in some places miscreants went on a looting spree, like in Kano and others.
“In a peaceful protest you are entitled to protection but if it degenerates to riot or violence, the right to life is not guaranteed.
“Riot is one of the exceptions under the right to life. Nobody will be deemed to have been denied the right to life in the event of suppression of riot, insurrection, mutiny and such.
“At this stage it will be premature for them (Military) to come in, although they have not actually said they are coming in. They are saying when the situation degenerates.
“If there is violence in some places the Military can come in but not the whole country; it is only in the areas that it is identified that there is violence.”
A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, also faulted the Defence Chief’s comments.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, noted that the CDS’s action was undemocratic.
Speaking with NewsNGR, Onwubiko said, “The CDS is not supposed to make such a statement in a democracy. What Nigerians expected is that the President himself should have made a national broadcast. Nigeria is not under a military regime.
“We expect to see a civilian President provide leadership and say this is not how to go about a protest.
“He could say ‘Nigeria does not need a protest now but since it is the constitutional right of Nigerians to embark on protest, it must be peaceful’.
“It is not the job of the Chief of Defence Staff or the Inspector General of Police. It is only in a Military set up that you see such a contraption. It is totally inappropriate.”
HURIWA condemned the President’s silence on the ongoing protests. According to Onwubiko, the development suggests that there is a ‘leadership vacuum’ in the country.
“I think there is a vacuum in the topmost leadership of Nigeria. Nobody is even sure whether the President is around or not. He is not talking, he is not being seen on TV, nobody is seeing him.
“When you have such a vacuum, maybe to demonstrate that there is some semblance of leadership in the country, maybe that’s why you see what is happening. But this is not how it should be,” he stressed.