The Nigerian military has dismissed a suggestion that it should take over the running of the country given the current security problems.

“The Military High Command wishes to use this opportunity to warn misguided politicians who nurse the inordinate ambition to rule this country outside the ballot box to banish such thoughts as the military under the current leadership remain resolute in the defence of Nigeria’s democracy and its growth,” spokesperson Brig-Gen Onyema Nwachukwu said in a statement.

He was responding to a comment on television by senior lawyer Robert Clarke that Nigeria was “on the brink of collapse” suggesting that the army should take charge of the country’s states.

Brig-Gen Nwachukwu warned that such action would be against the law saying it was “treasonable to even contemplate this illegality. The full wrath of the law will be brought to bear on any personnel found to collude with people having such an agenda.”

Other public figures, including the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, have suggested that President Muhammadu Buhari should at least seek external help.

In recent months, the country has been beset by security problems, including the kidnapping of students and violence between herders and settled farmers.