2019: Air Force‘ll assist INEC move sensitive materials to locations — CAS

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, Nigerian Air Force has said it was ready to provide all necessary transport logistics to Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC if the latter seeks assistance.


Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
It also warned its personnel against engaging in partisan politics, assuring that Nigerian Air Force would continue to operate in line with its constitutional mandate.

Chief of  Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who stated this, yesterday, in Abuja, added that the service was ready to assist the nation’s electoral umpire to enable it achieve the needed success during the 2019 general elections.

He spoke at the 2nd Quarter Conference of the Chief of Air Staff, which had Field Commanders and other senior officers as participants.

The air chief said the service would continue to work towards ensuring that the sovereignty of Nigeria was not undermined by any group of individuals.

Abubakar, who recalled that the Nigerian Air Force did same during the 2015 general elections, said adequate arrangements had been put in place by the service to facilitate transportation of INEC sensitive materials to some designated locations across the country.

He reminded the senior officers that the 2019 general elections were fast approaching and, therefore, cautioned them not to allow themselves to be dragged into partisan politics.

He further implored the senior NAF officers to stay focused on the discharge of the constitutionally assigned tasks of the Nigerian Air Force .

The Air chief further noted that the aim of the conference was to review the progress attained in the NAF since the last conference, adding that the meeting would afford the officers the opportunity to critically appraise the performance of the Service in the past few months.

“This conference equally provides an avenue to listen and get feedback from various field commanders while also keeping them abreast of the policy direction of the Headquarters NAF.”

“I have held a similar conference with the Air Warrant Officers and very Senior Non-Commissioned Officers of the NAF the previous day and the aim of the meeting is largely being to get a feedback from the personnel, as part of the bottom to top approach of the current leadership.

“Let me remind the senior officers that the 2019 general elections were fast approaching and therefore caution that you should not allow yourselves to be dragged into partisan politics.

“Even though you have the right to vote, exercise this right and do not be distracted from your constitutional duty of ensuring the protection of the nation’s territorial integrity and remain focused on any duty constitutionally assigned to you by the NAF,” he said.

Air Marshal Abubakar assured that NAF would continue to operate in line with its constitutional mandate, promising that officers and men of the service would work towards ensuring that the sovereignty of Nigeria was not undermined by any group of individuals.

The Air Force chief said further: “Let me at this juncture assure that the Nigerian Air Force is willing to avail INEC its transport aircraft for the expeditious distribution of electoral materials during the forthcoming 2019 general elections as it had done in the past, should INEC require such services”.

He advised the senior officers to take advantage of the lectures to be delivered at the conference by resource persons, noting that the conference was meant to fine tune their skills and update their knowledge on modern warfare.