THE GUARDIAN, Friday, May 17, 2013
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News EMERGENCY RULE Women leader, others urge co-operation
Police beef up security in Taraba
By Seye Olumide
From Charles Akpeji, Jalingo
SOCIAL activist and the Igba of Warri Kingdom, Chief Rita Lori Ogbebor has called on stakeholders in the country to ensure that the state of emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states achieves its objectives. In a related development, a non-governmental organisation, The Popular View Group, has commended the President for the proclamation in accordance with his powers as enshrined in the constitution. Speaking at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, Ogbebor said if the emergency was allowed to work and well managed, it would yield the desired peace otherwise “we all know what soldiers can do.”
OLLOWING the declaration Fneighbouring of emergency rule in the states of
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Deputy Controller of Prison,(Agodi Prison), Showumi Adewale (left); Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Abdul Azeez Arisekola Alao and Oloye Lekan Alabi at the controller of Prison’s visit to Alao in Ibadan ...yesterday. PHOTO: NAJEEM RAHEEM
ACN asks N’ Assembly to study proclamation, S’East PDP okays action From Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna) and Lawrence Njoku (Enugu) CHOING its resentment over the declaration of emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has urged the members of the National Assembly to carefully study the order by President Goodluck Jonathan. Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), South East zone yesterday condemned calls from certain quarters on the National Assembly to reject the bill on state of emergency, and advised them to desist from seeking cheap popularity from serious national issues. In a related development, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has cautioned the Federal Government against the deployment of military troops in the troubled areas such that it may eventually destabilise the civilian population in the area. They, however, said that they were ready to constitute a team to monitor the activities of soldiers under the emergency rule in the affected states. The ACN in a statement in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed said: ‘’Members of the federal legislature, as the true representatives of the people, must decide - purely on the basis of facts rather than sentiments - whether or not the emergency rule is the best option to resolve the Boko Haram crisis. Truly understanding the proclamation will enable them to make an informed decision when the issue is brought before them.” It said that the emergency rule, which is essentially martial law, has castrated democra-
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• Northern elders caution against military deployment cy in the affected states, even though the democratic structures have been left largely intact. ACN said the Jonathan administration, realising the groundswell of opposition that will be triggered if the governors and the Houses of Assembly members were sacked, decided to pull the wool over the eyes of unsuspecting Nigerians by leaving the elected officials in place even under the emergency rule. ‘’In practice, it was a monumental deception. First, the democratic structures left in place are of no use in a state under martial law; Secondly, the proclamation did not give a time frame, meaning that the
emergency rule is open-ended and can last as long as the President wishes. After all, the emergency rule imposed on 15 local councils in four states was never lifted. Thirdly, now that the President has tested the water and realised people could be so easily hoodwinked, what prevents him from extending the emergency rule to other states that catch his fancy? The PDP stated that the action of the President in declaring state of emergency in the three states signalled a new and decisive showdown against Boko Haram, adding that it called for the support of every Nigerian. In a letter of solidarity to his
North East counterpart, the National Vice Chairman of the party in the Southeast, Col. Austin Akobundu (rtd.) commended Jonathan for consulting all relevant stakeholders before taking the action. He added that his decision to leave the elected government structures in the three affected states intact confirmed his legacy as a truly democratic leader. In a statement after its meeting in Kaduna, the ACF’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Hajiya Fati Ibrahim, said: “The ACF takes notice of the proclamation of the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states by the Federal Government on the grounds that attacks and killings by
insurgents and other terrorist groups require more massive military response. The ACF, however, added: “The meeting was concerned that the President appears to invest more faith in a military solution even where evidence from our experiences so far bears no such optimism”. “It is the hope of the ACF therefore that the Federal Government does not consider the increased military deployments as a superior option or alternative to the slower and more tedious path of dialogue, negotiation and conciliation. Given the dismal history of peace-making campaigns by the military all over the world, dispatching battalion after battalion to the field in the hope of combating insurgents or terrorists, sound naïve”.
Falana, Fasehun, Keyamo, others laud Jonathan By Abiodun Fanoro prominent Nigerians SdentOME have commended PresiGoodluck for not displacing democratic structures in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states where he declared state of emergency. Among those who lauded the action are the national president of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun, eminent lawyers and civil rights activists, Femi Falana (SAN) and Festus Keyamo. They were all united in their views that the declaration of state of emergency in the affected states was in order and in the overall interest of the country. Fasehun said on Wednesday
that the action was long overdue and had been over delayed at huge cost to lives and property, stressing that insecurity and democracy were two strange bedfellows. Falana lauded Jonathan for not following the tradition of his predecessor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo who displaced structures of governance in states where he declared emergency rule during his tenure. Falana said: “However, President Jonathan deserves commendation for acting within the ambit of the constitution. Unlike ex-President Obasanjo who illegally removed elected governors under the guise of a state of emergency, President Jonathan has not dissolved democratic structures in the
affected states. That is in order because an elected governor can only be removed by impeachment, resignation or on ground of infirmity of body or mind and not through a state of emergency. He added: ‘‘For the avoidance of doubt the proviso to Section 11 (4) of the Constitution which empowers the National Assembly to take over the legislative powers of a state in case of emergency states that nothing in this section shall be construed as conferring on the National Assembly power to remove the governor or the deputy governor of the state from office.’’’ Falana urged the President not to end his respect for the rule of law in his full compli-
ance with the law in the state of emergency declaration but to further it and assure Nigerians that the era of impunity was over. Keyamo also corroborated Falana’s position that Jonathan had set a good example by retaining the structures of governance in those states. “It is constitutionally correct that the President did not attempt to suspend the governors from office as nothing in Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) gives him such a power. What Obasanjo did in the past in suspending governors through a declaration of a state of emergency was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void,” he added.
Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the Taraba State Police Command has placed on red alert all the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in all the 16 local councils in the state. The measure, according to the State Police Commissioner, Jubril O. Adeniji, is to halt the infiltration of hoodlums and members of the Boko Haram sect from neighbouring states to Taraba. Adeniji who disclosed this to journalists yesterday in his office, said the command had “put many measures in place since the Mr. President’s proclamation last Tuesday.” According to him, the measures include putting all the DPOs on alert to watch out for infiltrators into their areas of authorities, adding that “the divisions had been fortified with more men and we have re-introduced the stop and search exercise on all vehicles coming into any parts of the state.” Optimistic that the command has all the needed manpower to ward off insurgents from the state, he added, “we are equally putting our ears and eyes down to check any untoward situation.”
PDP chief, Tsav kicks, Tofa cautions From Adamu Abuh (Abuja), Joseph Wantu (Makurdi)and John Akubo (Dutse) OME prominent indigents of Sreservation Benue State have expressed over the declaration of the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, saying the action depicts a wrong step in tackling the insecurity in the country. However, a chieftain of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Alhaji Bashir Tofa on Wednesday urged caution over the action. A front line politician and a PDP stalwart in Benue State, Chief Abu Shuluwa in an interview with The Guardian criticised the action as lacking focus. The elder statesman also questioned the rationale in allowing the governors and assembly members to continue to administer the states. “I recall that under Obasanjo, state of emergency was declared in Plateau State and then Governor Joshua Dariye was asked to step aside for six months. Why did President Jonathan not do the same? This action will not achieve any purpose”, Shuluwa stated. In his reaction, former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Tsav said the action would only give the military legal backing to harass and kill innocent people in the affected states, a situation, he added, was not good for democracy.