A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the Nigerian Federal Government not to use members of the Armed Forces for election monitoring in the Saturday Presidential election and that of April 11.
The court which relied on a recent Court of Appeal ruling that barred the use of soldiers in the conduct of elections said that soldiers have no role in the conduct of elections in the country.
The court said that the use of in election monitoring is a violation of Section 217(2)(c) of the Constitution and Section 1 of the Armed Forces Act.
The appellate court had also relied on a judgment by a Federal High Court in Sokoto last January also barring the use of armed forces in the conduct of elections.
The latest ruling says the Nigerian government should not deploy soldiers at polling units, a plan that had generated controversy between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
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