(Opinion) Dear President, please withdraw that order

By Gbade Akanbi
President Buhari recently threatened to ruthlessly deal with those who intend to snatch ballot boxes during the forthcoming elections.
He even went to the extent of giving instructions to the military personnel to kill those who snatch ballot boxes.
While it is agreeable that snatching of ballot boxes during elections is not acceptable and should not be encouraged by the populace, the ‘shoot at doggy’s order of Gen Buhari is an order taken too far.
In echoing the same intolerant and intimidating decision of Buhari, the chief of Army staff, Buratai has also threatened soldiers to resign if they are not willing to abide by the barbaric decision of the two Bs or Bees (Buhari and Buratai)
Earlier, Nasir El Rufai had threatened the election observers with his infamous ‘body bags’ ranting. Hummm. These can happen only in Nigeria.
While condemning these unacceptable and aggressive disposition of the Bs and the APC in the strongest terms possible, I also want to suggest the following:
*Since Nigeria is not in a state of emergency, the Bs should immediately withdraw their respective statements and apologize to Nigerians.
*Buratai should concentrate his efforts on fighting the Boko Haram and do this with adequate counter terrorism training for the soldiers rather than using conventional warfare to fight terrorism.
Buratai should be trained together with his various commanders on how to fight terrorism with modern day approaches instead of the current archaic methods being used which has led to the loss of many lives both civilian and military.
*Only the services of Nigeria Police and Civil Defence Corps should be used in this election.
*The election observers should not allow themselves to be bought by any political party during this election neither should they stay in the hotels in the cities and monitoring election via the TV. They should go to the nooks and crannies of Nigeria for sincere evaluation of the electoral process and report the truth as it is.
*The INEC should do away with this manual and archaic system of election because it is a recipe for rigging. Rather, the INEC should employ the use of Electronic Voting Machines EVM immediately after this set of elections.
*There should be open declaration of results at every polling station and transmitting of the results to the state and national tallying centres as soon as the votes are counted.
*The Nigeria media houses have a great role to play in ensuring a free and fair election. This is not the time for them to be collecting brown envelopes from politicians but rather do a truthful and responsible reporting. The Nigeria media needs to up her game by engaging in investigative journalism.
*The electorates should not sell their conscience and future for a paltry sum at the expense of their votes. Nigerians, don’t sell your votes!!!
*Every act of hooliganism should be avoided and the electorates should be vigilant to ensure that nobody steals their votes.
*Lastly, the church should pray earnestly before, during, and after this election as never before. We need to pray not because our hope is in politicians but so that we may live a peaceable life in Nigeria. Too much blood has been shed in Nigeria and our land needs cleansing and healing so that Nigeria can fulfil her divine purpose in this generation.
So help us God!
▪  Mr. Akanbi, a student, sent this piece from India.