Five Army officers suspected to be fake soldiers, were on Tuesday 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 by the Imo State governorship candidates ahead of the 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.
Among the top governorship candidates who attended the peace accord/agreement ceremony were Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress, APC; Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Uche Nwosu of Action Alliance, AA.
However, Ikedi Ohakim of the Accord Party, AP, and Ifeanyi Araraume of the All Progressive 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, 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 anywhere close to a military formation. We have a way of identifying fake soldiers. The exhibits recovered are unbelievable. I want to sensitize our people that if you are in the habit of recruiting fake soldiers, we will arrest you.”
In his remark, the Imo State police commissioner, Dazuki Galadanchi also said: “Democracy is a game of numbers. There must be a winner and a loser. 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 here to serve humanity. Everybody must eschew violence.”
Also, the Imo state Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Francis Ezeonu, was of the view that, “Election is not war. On out part, we will provide a level playing ground for all the players. We will work hard to keep the integrity of the election.”
APC governorship candidate, Uzodinma, expressed confidence in the security agencies as well as INEC.
He said: “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 my party, the AA, believe in democracy and that is why we are here. We are committed to this peace pact.”
