Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, at a seminar for the Nigerian Army officers in Abuja, on Tuesday, said personnel of his service had accepted the democratic system of government in place in the country and had no plan to truncate it.
So, in the wake of a series of coup allegations against the Nigerian military, Lagbaja described personnel of the Nigerian Army under his leadership as agents of democracy.
The CDS said: “Permit me to seize this opportunity to reiterate that the Armed Forces of Nigeria, particularly the Nigerian Army, has come to terms with the country’s choice of democracy as the preferred system of governance. We are, therefore, agents of democracy and have no desire to truncate it.
“The Nigerian Army will continue to defend our constitution and not suspend it for whatever reason. It is the duty of our elected leaders to lead while the military does its job as enshrined in our constitution. Nigerian Army personnel must therefore remain professional and be above board as they discharge their constitutional duties.”
“Whoever is making that call (coup) does not love Nigeria. We want to make it very clear that the Armed Forces of Nigeria are here to protect democracy.
“We all want democracy and we do better under democracy. And so we will continue to support democracy. And any of those ones that are calling for anything other than democracy are evil people and I think they don’t mean well for Nigeria.
“They should be very careful because the law will come after them. We can see that with democracy, a lot of things are happening in Nigeria. Yes, we are going through trying periods, I mean in life, nothing is hundred per cent.”