Senators representing Ekiti Central and Zamfara Senatorial districts in the National Assembly, Babafemi Ojudu and Kabiru Marafa, on Friday, disagreed with some Nigerians who had called for the imposition of a full-scale state of emergency in the north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
Similarly, Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives (PDP, Delta State), Mr. Leo Ogor, and the House Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, opposed calls for military rule in the three states, where security forces have been in a long-drawn battle against the Boko Haram sect.
Some prominent Nigerians and groups, among whom were the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly; former Foreign Affairs Minister, Tom Ikimi; and the President of Christian Association of Nigeria, Ayo Oritsejafor, had called for “full emergency rule,” arguing that it would facilitate the crushing of the violent sect.
A full emergency rule will displace the existing democratic structures such as the governors of the states and the state legislatures and allow military sole administrators to assume full control of governance.
Ojudu and Marafa argued that the imposition of a full-scale emergency rule in the areas would amount to a total breach of the Nigerian constitution.
Ojudu, in an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, alleged that the insurgency worsened in the affected states because of the imposition of the partial emergency rule, stating that the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by the military prevented the people from organising themselves.
He said, “I am sure that the situation would not have been as bad as what we have there, if the state of emergency had not been imposed by the Federal Government on the people because the development prevented the people from organising themselves to support the military.
“The implication of the curfew slammed on the area was that the insurgents sneaked into the various towns and communities in the night and killed the people, whose movements had been restricted to their various homes.”
Marafa stated that anybody clamouring for the imposition of a full-scale emergency rule in the affected states was either ignorant of the provisions of the constitution or was trying to be mischievous.
He argued that the constitution of Nigeria did not make provisions for the declaration of a total emergency rule.
He said, “Such declaration may be possible if there is a new constitution in the country but as at today, doing so will be breaching the law of the land. It would be an insult on the military hierarchy to even bring up such a suggestion.
“I don’t believe the war on insurgency cannot be won until there is a declaration of a total emergency rule in the affected north-eastern states”
