The military, together with the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, on Monday, May 15, sent messages to individuals and groups planning to oppose the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu on May 29.
The Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, re-echoed the military warning to dissident groups that any threats to the transition programme and by extension to democracy in the country would be crushed.
Politics Nigeria recalls that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya, had earlier threatened to clamp down on potential threats to national security and warned troublemakers not to test the will of the military.
Gusau, while responding to inquiries from The PUNCH on the threats to the inauguration, made it known that the military stood by the warning it earlier issued to groups calling for an interim government.
Asked if the military was ready to neutralize threats to the inauguration ceremony, he simply answered, ‘’Yes,’’ adding that the preparation for the event was ongoing.
“We are already doing our rehearsals for the march past parade,’’ he noted.
Addressing journalists at a press briefing at the Force Headquarters, Louis Edet House, Abuja, the IG said the police and other security agencies are ready to deal with aggrieved political actors and their supporters plotting to scuttle the swearing-in programme.
The Defence headquarters and the police handed down the warning on Monday as a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja fixed Thursday for hearing of a suit seeking to stop the inauguration of the former Lagos State governor.
Justice Inyang Ekwo on Monday asked the five applicants who sued on behalf of the Federal Capital Territory residents and voters to convince the court of their locus standi, jurisdiction and whether there is a similar matter before the presidential elections court.
But speaking against the background of the clamour by some people for an interim government and alleged incitement statements that Tinubu should not be sworn in as the president, the IG cautioned those involved in any plot to destabilise the presidential inauguration to desist as the security agencies were determined to protect democracy in the country.
