There are fresh revelations on plans to greatly slash the overall votes cast in favour of General Muhammadu Buhari during Saturday's polls towards guaranteeing a possible victory for President Goodluck Jonathan.
A top military source exclusively reveals that the security chiefs comprising the army, navy and air forces have sent top secret circulars to all military formations and barracks nationwide instructing the commandants to securely lock from these areas from dawn till evening on election day to prevent soldiers and their families from voting. Ostensibly, the memo claims this is needful towards securing the barracks and army formations from violent attacks during the polls.
This development will reduce the total votes cast for Buhari in this keenly contested elections where every vote counts. Hundreds of thousands, probably millions, from the country's military bloc are basically ardent supporters of Buhari and there is no question about who they will vote for in the crucial polls.
The spirit of espirit de corps is a lifelong feeling among military men whether they are serving or retired. The military identifies more with Buhari over President Jonathan because he is one of their own. Besides, the military class is totally against Jonathan's continued rule because of his perceived mishandling of the Boko Haram insurgency; inadequate handling of intelligence and non provision of sophisticated weapons to fight the terrorists have led to massive casualties among their fellow soldiers. Worse, the widows and children of these fallen comrades are languishing in serious hardship because the Nigeria state and military top brass have not compensated them. They were not even given state burials, as is the norm in other places, for dying in the line of combat duty while defending Nigeria. Worse, soldiers who protested against these, including deductions from their already-inadequate financial allowances, were court-martialled and variously sent to the hangman's noose or given life sentences. Consequently, the morale among the military is at an all-time low and it is desperately craving a better life under a Buhari administration first because he is best suited to keenly understand them and, because they look forward to the military reforms he promises.
Unconfirmed reports says locking the soldiers in on election day may also portend a more sinister plan in the ruling party's widely reported readiness to orchestrate a chain of events that will eventually culminate in an interim government. Disenchanted soldiers might overrun the barracks in a counter move towards foiling a military action aimed at possibly ensuring the elections are not held or prevented from being manipulated.
Or, the military is highly poised to be directly involved in determining the outcome of the electoral process through a possible coup d'etat. Today, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo reveals the existence of the possibility of a coup. Locking soldiers and their families in barracks and brigades nationwide may be a proactive safety measure against an expected mob action following this development.
Though this second position seems farfetched, the initial disclosure that all Nigerian barracks would be locked against its occupants is already done by the security chiefs.
Earlier, the security chiefs paved the ground for polls' extension from February 14 and 28 because they want to ensure states gravely affected by Boko Haram insurgency can vote.
