DON’T DECLARE EMERGENCY RULE IN TROUBLED STATES, ACN, CPC WARN

Opposition parties – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – warned yesterday the Federal Government against the declaration of a state of emergency in the violence-ridden states of Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa.

The parties made their position known in statements by their spokesmen – Alhaji Lai Mohammed (ACN) and Mr. Rotimi Fasakin (CPC).

“If the imposition of emergency rule on the most affected states is the only viable option left for President Goodluck Jonathan to tackle the crisis, then he should step down,” Mohammed said.

The CPC queried why violence is festering in states not controlled by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But the Federal Government has denied that a decision to declare a state of emergency in any state has been taken.

The ACN said the crisis has dragged on for so long because of the failure of the Jonathan administration to appropriately diagnose the problem, in the first instance, coupled with an exhibition of lethargy and an appalling lack of creativity in devising measures to end it.

Said the party: ‘’Perhaps President Jonathan should emulate the late United States President Harry Truman by putting a sign on his desk at Aso Rock that reads ‘The buck stops here’ to remind him that he bears the ultimate responsibility for the security situation in the country today, instead of any attempt to blame some state governors in the affected states.

‘’Imposing a state of emergency on the states that have been mentioned, like Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states, will amount to shifting responsibility and unduly victimising the governors of those states, who have done perhaps more than the President, in dealing with the crisis, even though they are not in charge of any security apparatus.

‘’It is important to state here that the President virtually abandoned the states as they reeled under the effects of the Boko Haram onslaught. For about two years after assuming office, he refused to visit the states until the APC Governors blazed the trail and left him with no option but to follow suit.”

‘’It is also important to warn that since the listed states are not under the control of the PDP and – going by precedence – President Jonathan is sure to appoint card-carrying PDP members to preside over the affairs of the state in the event that he imposes emergency rule on them, it will amount to robbing the citizens of those states of their mandate and capturing more states for the PDP..

‘’In any case, the affected states are already heavily militarised with the massive deployment of troops there to battle the Boko Haram insurgency, and one wonders what else will change if they are put under emergency rule….beyond just removing elected officials like Obasanjo did wantonly during his tenure,’’ ACN said.

The party said if the President still finds the state of emergency option the most viable despite the arguments to the contrary, then he should go further by also putting Abuja, where the police headquarters, a military barracks and the UN complex have been bombed; the states in the South where kidnapping has become a daily occurrence as well as the areas where the nation’s crude oil is being stolen in millions of barrels under the state of emergency.

It advised President Jonathan to stick to dialogue in dealing with the Boko Haram crisis, with the hope that a determined pursuit of the new measures, rather than a half-hearted, made-for-klieg lights posturing, will help end the crisis.

The CPC described emergency rule as a knee-jack response to security challenges.

Fashakin said the party suspected a sinister plot to declare emergency rule in the three states.

The statement said: “There is every reason to believe that the President is contemplating declaration of emergency in three states- Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa – that have been embroiled lately in orgies of violence with attendant fatalities.

“First, as a party, we condemn in strong terms these orgies of violence in these states.

“Second, our hearts go out to the families of those whose lives have been cut short by these insurgencies.

“ We commiserate with the gallant servicemen and women that paid the supreme sacrifice in Yobe, Borno and Nasarawa states while in the service of the nation. We are sure that their labour and sacrifice shall not be in vain.

“Third, we wish to alert the nation about the sinister plot to invoke emergency rule in these states.”

The party said recourse to emergency rule would amount to self-serving purposes.

“The question is, what is the new thing that an administrator will hope to achieve, given the present scenario of militarisation in these states? Should this not be interpreted as another knee-jack response of this administration to situations that require out-of-the-box thinking? Is this approach not to be interpreted as a pre-meditated consequence of ineptitude of this regime?

“It would be recalled that no other person than the former National Security Adviser, late General Andrew Owoye Azazi, had alerted the nation about the politics of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) being the locus of the insecurity in the nation state.

“The question is, what did the Federal Government do to stymie the odiousness of the politics of the ruling party other than merely sacking the messenger?

The statement added: “Fourth, as a party, we have noticed a dangerous trend that the states mainly embroiled in these spates of insecurity are mainly non-PDP states which further fuels the notion that these insurgencies are purposely orchestrated to create the ambience for the declaration of emergency rule in the states.

“Fifth, on the basis of the foregoing, therefore, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, is vehemently opposed to any declaration of state of emergency because we are convinced that it is not only puerile but meant for self-serving purposes.

“In this vein, therefore, we reject in its totality this intent at declaring any state of emergency and request the President, as the Leader of the PDP, to consult within his party for the panacea to the nation’s security nightmare.”

Presidential spokesman Dr. Reuben Abati said at the weekend that no decision had been taken yet on the states that have witnessed escalation of violence as a result of attacks by members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday summoned an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.

The meeting, attended by all the Service Chiefs, discussed fresh attacks in Bama, Borno State and Nasarawa State that left dozens of policemen dead.

Dismissing the report of a planned declaration of emergency rule in Nasarawa, Borno, Yobe, Benue and Plateau states, Abati said: “No such decision has been taken and people should stop speculating.

“The Federal Government is studying the situations in the affected states and would take a decision that would be in the overall interest of the security of not just the people of the states affected but the country.

Source: The Nation