Ahead of today’s debate on President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for an extension of emergency rule in the troubled North-east states, EZREL TABIOWO writes on the positions of the lawmakers
Jonathan’s request
President Goodluck Jonathan in a letter read on the floor of the Senate last week Tuesday, requested for an extension of state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states. Notwithstanding the mood of the moment, the request was greeted by stiff rejection from northern senators who vowed to frustrate the move.
In the letter, the president explained that the need for an extension was due to the increasing spate of insurgency in the three North East states, after declaring state of emergency two times of six months each.
The letter which was addressed to the Senate President, David Mark, was read by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who presided over plenary.
It read: “May I respectfully draw your attention to the State of Emergency Proclamation 2013, in respect of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, which was approved by the National Assembly.
“By virtue of the provisions of Section 305(6)(c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, the Proclamation aforementioned would have elapsed after six months from the date of approval of the National Assembly.
“However, after due consideration of the representations made to the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the effect that, while substantial progress had been made to contain the situation and restore normalcy in the affected states, the security situation that necessitated the proclamation of a State of Emergency was yet to abate.
“It will be recalled that the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had upon consideration of the realities of the security situation in the affected states that had been placed before it, graciously approved by resolution, the extension of the State of Emergency for a further term of six months from the date of expiration of the subsisting period.
“Distinguished Senators, the security situation in the three states remains daunting, albeit to varying degrees, in the face of persistent attacks by members of the Boko Haram sects on civilian and military targets with alarming casualty rates.
“In view of the foregoing, I most respectfully request Distinguished Senators to consider and approve by resolution, the extension of the Proclamation of the State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States by a further term of six months from the date of expiration of the current term.
“I look forward, Distinguished Senate President, to the usual kind expeditious consideration of this request by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Please accept, as always, the assurances of my highest consideration and esteem.”
Reactions
Although the president’s request was however not formally discussed by the upper chamber, but a lawmaker from Yobe and Secretary, Northern Senators Forum(NSF), Senator Ahmed Lawan, kicked against the president’s request, saying the alternative of funding the military properly be resorted to in the quest to tackle insurgency in the affected states.
He said, “The state of emergency had been operated for 12 months now and will end on the 19th (yesterday) of this month. I think that should be the end. That is not to say that the military operation in the North east should cease. Instead, the federal government should deploy more military personnel and modern equipment to the affected states.
“What is crucial, essential and imperative, is not the state of emergency but the enablement of the military especially those in the battle front to have state-of-the-art technology and weapons.”
“The government does not need to declare another state of emergency before they continue. They are already there. The obsolete arms and ammunition should be withdrawn from them and be replaced with modern ones.
“The National Assembly has always expressed willingness to support further funding for the military operation.
“The Senate President, David Mark, who spoke on our behalf last week, told President Goodluck Jonathan that the Senate was prepared to approve supplementary budget to further equip the military and boost the morale of the soldiers.
“Therefore I am completely opposed to the extension of the state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe but I support further funding for the military operation in the area,” Lawan further posited.
The summons
In a bid to find a way around the obvious crack in the Senate over the matter, the upper chamber, last Wednesday summoned the nation’s security chiefs, and Ministers of Defence and Police Affairs to brief it on impact of previous declarations.
Upon this summon, Senate Majority Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), who was billed to sponsor the motion, consequently prevailed on his colleagues to defer consideration of the matter till another legislative date to enable same to be gazetted.
According to him, the Senate was restrained to consider the president’s request giving that the aspect of the constitution dealing with emergency rule had not been gazetted.
He said: “We must circulate the gazette before we can debate it. So, I will move that this distinguished Senate do invite the Chief of Army staff, the Chief of Naval staff, Chief of Air staff, inspector General of police to brief this distinguished Senate tomorrow(Thursday) in a close session to enable us to commence debate on the President request.”
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ekweremadu, who presided over the session, described the motion as “a very serious business which bothers on the security of a part of this country and we need to be well informed of the situation on ground and the efficiency or the effectiveness of the state of emergency in the past 12 months to enable us take a proper decision.
“I therefore appeal that in accordance with the motion moved by the Senate leader, we should step it down till another legislative day.”
Seconding the motion, Senator James Manager, said: “It is important to invite the service chiefs but since they were under some authorities, I want to amend the motion as proposed by the senate leader by adding two very important persons.
“First, the National Security Adviser, the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Police Affairs.”
The division
Apparently sensing the possibility of the president’s request being approved by the Senate, northern senators have vowed to thwart every move that would give an extension to emergency rule in the three affected states. The planned rejection of emergency rule extension in the affected states was reached during a meeting of northern senators under the aegis of the NSF, which held at the National Assembly Complex.
The meeting which lasted over three hours had senators from the north uniting against an approval by the Senate to the president’s request, as they vowed to frustrate it on the floor during voting.
Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, Chairman of the forum, Umaru Dahiru, representing Sokoto South, disclosed that the group had set up a committee to meet with the government of the affected states on the next line of action on the matter.
Dahiru said: “Our meeting this afternoon discussed basically, the issue of emergency rule jn Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Everybody in attendance made contributions and a lot was said.
“The majority position is basically that we are not going with the state of emergency. That is our categorical position because we are not convinced that it is only the issue of emergency rule that could make the security personnel to achieve success in the area.
“We believe a lot of things ought to be addressed in order to conquer the issue of insurgency. So, our own position is that we are not going to support extension of the emergency rule in the area.
“We are going to engage the three governors in the affected states, we want to know what went wrong to be able to come up with better ways to tackle the crisis.However, the government must work for the benefits of its citizens.”
“The constitution requires two-third majority in terms of voting. Of course we are going to vote on the issue. If we can outnumber them during the voting fine, but of course, our position is that we are going to vote against it.
“Technically, Section 304 sub section 6, states the requirements of how the state of emergency should be declared and our own position is against it and obviously, we are going to stand by it,” the northern lawmakers added.
Senate defers debate
Despite meeting with the security chiefs as agreed, the Senate in another resolution reached, deferred debate on the request till today. Heads of security chiefs in attendance were the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Naval staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, Chieff of Air Staff, Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, Director General, Department of Security Services, Ita Ekpeyong.
On what transpired at the meeting, Senator Ekweremadu said the Senate decided to embark on further consultation with stakeholders towards ensuring the end of insurgency in the north east states.
He said: “The Senate met with the service chiefs, Inspector-General of Police and the DG, SSS, and we are fully briefed on the operations of the state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa over the last twelve months.
“Thereafter, when they had left, we analysed our conversation with them and as responsible and patriotic Nigerians, we are looking at it from a very diverse angle to ensure that the security in those states improved at the shortest possible time.
“And further to that, we’ve also agreed to do further consultations with all the necessary stakeholders to ensure that everybody would buy into whatever needs to be done to secure those states and to defeat insurgency in those states. This exactly was what transpired in the closed door session. So by Tuesday(today) we would continue our deliberation on the issue of the state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.”
Also speaking, Senator Smart Adeyemi disclosed that “the senators have agreed to carry out further consultations with all stakeholders and get to the root of those issues which the senators have raised.”
“The beauty of democracy is that people are representatives from every part of the country. So when you are taking a decision that is going to affect a particular area and they have their representatives, if those representatives have a different opinion, so we have to take time and investigate what they have said so that by the time we come back we would speak from the point of knowledge,” he added.
“I must confess to you that when the service chiefs came and they spoke at length to us, quite a number of senators changed their opinion. So the people shifted from one side of the divide to the other. Superior arguments were made for and superior arguments were made against.
“So, as it is many of the legislators have not really made up their mind as to whether they are going to support it or not. But what is important is that the safety of lives and properties is of paramount importance to all of us,” Adeyemi said.
But Senator Lawan who had earlier opposed extension of the emergency rule, still reiterated the position while briefing journalists.
He said rather than extend emergency rule, the federal government should change its strategy towards combating insurgents through proper utilisation of allocations to security agencies.
“We are against state of emergency. What we require is effectiveness of those who are there, and that does not require state of emergency. What we need to do is to ensure that whatever resources are appropriated are utilized properly.
“The military had conducted very massive operations in Nasarawa, in Benue, in Zamfara and recently in Katsina. Those states were not under a state of emergency before those operations were conducted. And let me tell you insurgency does not end. In Turkey over 30 years, the PKK, in Colombia over 50 years, the FARC.
“Insurgency doesn’t end. What you need to do is to continue to get the right arms and re-strategise until you get to the situation where people would feel better. And you don’t have to be under state of emergency,” Lawan said.
But while it seems that the northern senators, especially those from the north east might kick against a further extension of emergency rule in , chances are that the president’s request will be approved by the Senate this week in view of the nod given by the House of Representatives last Thursday.
