The Nigerian Army  said  yesterday that it turned down many pressures from some quarters to interrupt the current democracy because of its firm belief in the sustenance of democracy.
General Officer Commanding, 2 division, Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Lawrence Ugubane   spoke in Ibadan at the weekend through his representative Lt. Col Andrew Idachaba during the 3rd Annual Francis Adekunle Fajuyi memorial lecture organized by the League of Veteran Journalists, Oyo State chapter held at Iyaganku Press Centre, Ibadan.

He said while speaking on the topic, “the military as a stabilizing factor in a democracy, that “I have friends telling us that we have become women in the Nigerian Army. They said we should take over. But, I always tell them that having the military in governance is an aberration”.

“The military, if it must stabilize the nation’s democracy”, he went further, “should have the  people’s confidence, strive to remain apolitical and assist to create an enabling atmosphere for good governance and peaceful co-existence.

“This, we can say was aptly demonstrated during the trying times of our late president of blessed memory, Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua. During this period, the nation’s military demonstrated its apolitical posture when it allowed events to flow through its natural course without meddling in the affairs of the state”, he explained.

Their patience and discipline then, he noted, had paid off today for everyone in the country and this came from the fact that the Nigerian military has completely subordinated itself to civil authorities, while efforts were on to continuously sensitize its personnel to remain so through training, seminars and symposia.

The GOC admitted that no form of government has been able to regulate public affairs and welfare of the people better than democracy.