The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, yesterday said security agencies will not succumb to pressure from politicians to compromise elections.

He called on Nigerians to put their trust in them as they remain committed to maintaining neutrality.

The CDS also said that the armed forces will keep faith in the directive by the Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari that the military remains neutral during the elections.

Appearing at the 61st Ministerial Media Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Irabor said some crim8nal 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.

He said personnel is 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.

2023: 5,676,858 PVCs collected so far in Lagos— INEC

“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 personnel in the armed forces.

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

The CDS 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.

He explained, “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 re-conscientise 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 re-conscientise 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.”

The Chief of Defence 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.

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

On crude oil theft, he noted Nigeria’s colossal loses of oil revenue as of 2014 was about N1.92trn, 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.

He affirmed 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.

*Defence chief condemns Reuters‘ abortion report, says it’s outright ‘nonsense’

Meanwhile, the Chief of Defence Staff has denied reports of a forced abortion campaign involving about 10,000 pregnancies of women and girls in the North-East.

Irabor, who said that he didn’t want to dignify the report by responding to it, said, “It is outright nonsense. It’s not true.”

Recall that Reuters, a London-based news agency had on December 7 published that “Since at least 2013, the Nigerian military has conducted a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls.”

The report also claimed that many of the women involved in the programme had been kidnapped and raped by terrorists of the Boko Haram extraction.

Citing witnesses’ accounts, Reuters said resisters were “beaten, held at gunpoint or drugged into compliance.”

The report appears to give a negative image of the Nigerian military, especially in its fight against terrorism in the Northeast.

Fielding questions from State House correspondents at the ministerial briefing, Irabor said: “That is outright nonsense. Their allusion is news to me. It never occurred. I never saw anything like that from Maiduguri down to Maimalamari cantonment where I lived which is a major hospital for our personnel and their family. I am disappointed, to say the least. So it is not true.

“I was informed by the Director of Defence Information about a mail from Reuters requesting an interview with me. And he gave me a letter written by one Alexander making allegations that have now been published by Reuters.

“I simply said he should go back to the person and answer their questions but I’m not going to dignify such a report.

“You’re saying the military since 2013 has been engaged in a planned abortion programme”

The CDS also revisited the infamous shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate in 2020, insisting that the Nigerian military is not interested in “killing its people.”