President Goodluck Jonathan

      House approves extension of state of emergency
      Nigeria is at war, say service chiefs
      Again, Senate defers deliberations

Omololu Ogunmade, Muhammad Bello and John Shiklam

Should the current security situation persist till the 2015 general election, the governors of the affected states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe might be granted an extension of their tenure, ex-gratia, through a presidential proclamation endorsed by the National Assembly and backed by the constitution.

This emerged yesterday when the House of Representatives approved President Goodluck Jonathan’s request to extend the state of emergency in the three states for another six months.

Also, during deliberations on the extension of emergency rule in the three states, the service chiefs led by the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Kenneth Minimah, owned up to the fact that the country is at war as a result of the proliferation of violence orchestrated by the terrorist sect Boko Haram, especially in North-eastern Nigeria.


However, after a three-hour closed-door session, the Senate deferred the deliberation on the extension of emergency rule in the states, promising to hold wider consultations before continuing the debate next Tuesday.

Hon. Ibrahim El-Sudi (PDP, Taraba), who at a press briefing conveyed the outcome of the closed-door meeting held between the House lawmakers and the military top brass, as well as the approval by the House extending emergency rule in the three states, said: “If the situation does not abate, there may be an extension of the tenure of the governors, subject to the approval of the National Assembly, for six months ex-gratia.”

During the briefing, it was disclosed that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh, was not at the meeting, as he was said to have travelled outside the country on a related issue.


Others who were present are Minimah; Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin, Chief of Naval Staff; Air Vice Marshall Adesola Amosu, Chief of Air Staff; the outgoing Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar; and the Director General, State Security Services (SSS), Mr. Ekpeyong Nsah.

El-Sudi said the House approved the request of the president to extend the emergency rule for an additional six months after several hours of waiting and subsequent discussions on the security situation in the three states with the service chiefs.

At the close of the meeting, a voice vote gave the nod for the extension of the emergency rule, he said.
It was gathered that during the closed-door session, the service chiefs told the House that although the status of the crises was indicative that Nigeria is at war, the situation can be tackled if the extension is granted.

Also briefing reporters, Hon. Zakari Mohammed (APC, Kwara), said: “We had a session with the service chiefs. What we insisted on was we needed to hear from them how far they had gone after the last session. Thereafter, we decided as a House to unanimously vote for the extension of the rule.”


According to him, the chiefs assured the House that there would be serious progress made, especially with the support of foreign countries.


“We empathise with the people of the areas on what they are going through as a result of this problem. But this is the only way to go about this,” Mohammed said.


It was further revealed that the extension of the emergency rule sought by Jonathan in the North-east was done to allow the country enact a legal framework to take cognisance of the presence of foreign countries assisting in the war against terrorism.

El-Sudi, who quoted copiously from the constitution, indicated that one of the requests by the foreign countries who offered to help in the fight, was that there should be a subsisting legal arrangement that would make it lawful for them to intervene.

“One of the fundamental demands of these countries was to have a legal framework to operate within the country,” El-Sudi explained, adding that this was difficult because of the impediments to a constitutional review that makes it difficult to enact such a framework.


He said only Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution gives latitude for the enactment of a treaty that would allow intervention as “Section 12 stipulates that no treaty shall be executed unless it is enacted by the National Assembly. So only an emergency rule can allow for the speedy enactment of such a treaty.”

Senate Defers Debate Again
In the Senate on the other hand, the upper legislative chamber deferred deliberation on the extension of emergency rule in the three North-east states, promising to hold wider consultations before continuing deliberations next Tuesday.


This decision was announced yesterday by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who presided over a three-hour closed-door session with service chiefs who had been summoned by the parliament to brief it on the output of the emergency rule so far in the affected states.


After the session, the Senate continued with its discussion behind the scenes, after which Ekweremadu described it as a fruitful deliberation, adding that the Senate resolved to look at the matter from a diverse perspective and hence, the resolve to hold further consultations before commencing debate on it.


“As responsible and patriotic Nigerians, we are looking at it from very diverse angles to ensure that the security situation in those states improves at the shortest possible time.


“Apart from that, the Senate also agreed to hold further consultations with all the necessary stakeholders to ensure that everybody buys into whatever is needed to be done to secure those states and defeat the insurgency there. This is what transpired at our closed-door session.


“So, by Tuesday, we will continue our deliberations on the state of emergency and insurgency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States," Ekweremadu said.

ACF Cautions against Extension
In the meantime, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has cautioned the National Assembly against approving the president’s request for the extension of emergency rule imposed on the three states.


The forum, in a statement in Kaduna yesterday, maintained that the request for the extension should be considered against its impact so far, declaring that the impact of emergency rule has been disastrous.


The statement, which was issued at the end of the meeting of the Rapid Response Committee of the forum in Kaduna, quoted figures released by Amnesty International, saying before the imposition of emergency rule, the total causalities of the insurgency were less than 1,500, adding that the figure skyrocketed to over 2,700 during the one year of its imposition.


“During emergency rule, Boko Haram attacked and destroyed large swathes of areas in the North-east, including (18) eighteen towns and cities not counting schools, mosques and churches.


“It is not clear to the public why the violence has been escalating since the imposition of the state of emergency on those three states. If we counsel against the continuation of the emergency rule, we are only being guided by our ugly experiences thus far.


“And, at any rate, the federal government does not need to declare a state of emergency before it can discharge its responsibility of maintaining law and order. Otherwise, it may need to declare a state of emergency on the whole country at this time, given the state of lawlessness going on in the North, South, West and Eastern regions of the country” the ACF said in the statement signed by its Secretary General, Col. John Ubah (rtd).

The statement further observed that Jonathan failed to handle the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls with seriousness until Nigerians and the international community mounted serious pressure demanding their rescue.


It also accused the president’s wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan of disrupting all efforts by concerned Nigerians to rescue the girls from their abductors by setting up her own panel of inquiry to which she summoned federal and state government officials, including wives of governors.


The ACF maintained that “under the circumstances, it is not difficult to understand why people ask in frustration, why the president acts the way he does. Is it the result of inexperience, poor advice or, as some observers say, certain hidden agenda against a section of the country?


“The president did not approach the abduction with a sense of urgency nor seriousness until ordinary Nigerians poured out on to the streets demanding greater action.


“The first lady remained characteristically disruptive of all efforts by concerned Nigerians. Her reaction to the street protests was to set up her own panel of inquiry to which she summoned federal and state government officials, including wives of governors.


“She conducted a mock trial of the officials on live television and at the end of it, declared that no schoolgirl were missing, suggesting that the entire story was some hoax constructed to embarrass her husband.


“The approach of the president to the tragic abductions of the Chibok girls is not much different from his handling of the entire insurgency war that has engulfed the North, especially the North-east region since 2009.


“Even the president’s most ardent supporters readily agree that his prosecution of the insurgency war has been hesitant, feeble and half-hearted.


“The president hardly ever took action until he came under pressure to do so from people outside his government. The mounting pressure from local and international communities is now compelling him to talk of deploying more troops to confront the Boko Haram insurgents.


“His belated acceptance of help from foreign powers came only after the abduction of over 200 young girls, stirring worldwide outrage.
“We caution that the request before the National Assembly to approve the extension of the year-long state of emergency declared in the North-east states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, be considered against its impact so far, which can only be described as disastrous.”



Source: ThisDay