Five Army officers suspected to be fake soldiers, Tuesday were paraded at the Imo state police command headquarters in Owerri.
The Commander 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze Owerri, Brigade General H. I. Bature, stated this during the signing of the peace Accord/Agreement by the Imo state governorship candidates ahead of the 2019 general elections.
He also said that two out of the five suspects were caught escorting a politician, but the Army commander did not mention the name of the politician said to be enjoying the security of the fake Army officers.
However, Vanguard captured that among the top governorship candidates who attended the peace accord/agreement ceremony, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Hope Uzodinma, Emeka Ihedioha, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Uche Nwosu, Action Alliance, AA.
But Ikedi Ohakim of the Accord Party, AP, and Ifeanyi Araraume of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, sent their running mates, Mrs. Ann Dozie and Steve Nwoga respectively.
On the arrest of the suspected fake Army officers whose names were not mentioned, at the parade ground, the Army Commander said: “You can see, they are wearing the same uniform. You will find it difficult to differentiate them from myself. They are not soldiers. Unfortunately, two of them were caught escorting a politician.
“One of them, Kelvin, is not near anywhere close to military formation. We have a way of identifying fake soldiers. The exhibits recovered is unbelievable. I want to sensitize our people that if you are in the habit of recruiting fake Army we will arrest you.”
In his remark, the Imo state police commissioner Dazuki Galadanchi, also said: “Democracy is a game of number. There must be a winner and a looser. Anybody who is not here is not a supporter of democracy. We have only one state and that is Imo state. Our gathering today is to make sure that the election is credible, free and fair. Anybody here and is in Imo state is to serve humanity. Everybody must eskew violence.”
Also, the Imo state Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Francis Ezeonu, was of the view that, “Election is not war. On our part we will provide a level playing ground for the all players. We will work hard to keep the integrity of the election.”
Some of the candidates who briefly spoke, Uzodinma of the APC, expressed confidence in the security agencies as well as INEC, “We highly commend the idea of the peace accord initiated by the various security agencies and we will abide by this accord. I have trust in INEC and security agencies, if not I will not be here for this accord meeting.”
The AA, guber candidate, Nwosu said: “Myself and party the AA, believes in democracy and that is why we are here. We are committed to this peace pact.”
VANGUARD
