Stop raising coup alarm, AD warns Ogbulafor

By Niyi Adebimpe - 12.05.2008

THE Alliance for Democracy (AD) has warned the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, not to raise unnecessary alarm about military intervention in governance.

A press release signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the AD, Mr. Rafiu Salau, chided Ogbulafor over his recent statement that the PDP government would persist for 60 years as a way of checking and keeping the military at bay.

“In other words, the PDP chairman believes that only the presence of the PDP in power can stop the military from taking over power. To say that the solution to non-intervention of the military is for the government of the PDP to be in power for 60 years is a threat to the democratic rights of the people,” the AD said.

AD, therefore, warned Ogbulafor to stop raising unnecessary alarm about military intervention, stressing that the military of today had the knowledge that the democratic institution had come to stay and it is the only means of acquiring political power.

“They are aware that their interruption cannot improve the system of governance. They know that military intervention will destabilise and bring the nation to a retrogressive status before her contemporaries that have stable institution of governance.

“They know that to protect the sovereignty of the nation, they have to concentrate on their profession and the challenges of technology in the military so that they will be able to meet up with their counterparts in the other part of the world,” the AD noted.

The AD added that “we have confidence in our military as they focus on their professional calls and leave governmence to politicians. We believe that the military will accept any political party given the mandate to rule the nation.”