The Army spokesman said soldiers will be deployed at strategic points several kilometres away from polling centres.
The Nigerian Army has said that soldiers would be on standby to forestall possible violence in the Rivers State council elections scheduled to hold on Saturday, June 16, 2018.
A colonel and spokesperson of the Nigerian Army 6 Division, Port Harcourt, Aminu Iliyasu, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said soldiers will be deployed at strategic points several kilometres away from polling centres.
Iliyasu explained that the army is adopting that position because "we are not directly involved in the election and no soldier is going to be deployed for any election duty."
Police, DSS will be in charge
According to him, it is only the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) that have the constitutional responsibility to provide security in the election.
"However, we are always on alert whenever there is election. We will only be on standby at the periphery in case our services are needed," he said.
Iliyasu said soldiers were banned from going into polling centres and escort polling materials to the centres.
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The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) will conduct the elections in the 23 local government areas of the state.