Balarabe Musa condemns state of emergency

Alhaji Balarabe Musa, National Chairman of the de-registered Peoples Redemption Party has condemned the declaration of state of emergency in three states.
Musa told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja in a telephone interview that globally, “declaration of state of emergency was not the best approach to issues of insecurity.”
Musa said: “At this fragile state of the affected states, declaration of state of emergency should not have been the next option.
“This is because many people in the affected states are already traumatised, disorganised and weak in all developmental aspects of their lives.”
Musa said that the issue of the nation was becoming so fragile and must be handled with serious caution and called on the National Assembly to step into the matter to avoid anarchy in the country.
Musa said that since government had set up an amnesty committee to tackle the problem of Boko Haram, the timing of the declaration of the state if emergency was wrong.
However, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said that the declaration of emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States by President Goodluck Jonathan was a “necessary step for national peace”.
In a statement issued by his Special Adviser (Media), Uche Anichukwu, Ekweremadu commended Jonathan for following constitutional prescriptions.
He expressed the hope that the emergency rule would also correct misgivings that arose from previous “unconstitutional approaches” to its implementation.
He said: “I commend the president for taking the bold and necessary step toward arresting the rising insurgence in the affected states.
“Importantly, I commend the President for abiding, strictly, with constitutional provisions on State of Emergency.
“This he did by taking only the requisite extraordinary measures to contain the insurgence and insecurity in the states, without dismantling the elected democratic structures.”
Ekweremadu called on the governments and people of the affected states to cooperate with the Federal Government and the security agencies to restore lasting order and security in the country.
Contributing, the Minority Whip, House of Representatives, Hon. Samson Osagie, also lauded the president over the declaration of the emergency and described it as a right step in the right direction.
“The level of insurgency being witnessed in the country was posing a challenge to our sovereignty,” Osagie said.
The legislator stressed that Nigerians could not continue to live in a country where peace and security were being threatened.
He, however, urged both the military and the civil authorities to collaborate to bring lasting solution to the states affected.
A former Governor of Ogun, Chief Segun Osoba, also commended Jonathan for not removing the governors of the affected states under emergency declaration, “for an army of occupation”.
However, the Oodua Peoples Congress and the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum urged the president to dissolve the political structures in the affected states.
The founder of OPC, Dr. Federick Fasehun, said that though the declaration came late, it was “a welcome development”.
Fasehun said: “The president should have gone a step further by removing the governors.
“He should have ignored sentiments by doing what should have been done a long time ago. How are we sure that some of those in power are not financing the insurgents.”
The AYCF President, Alhaji Yerimma Shettima, also called on the president to dissolve the political structures and the Committee for Dialogue with the Boko Haram sect.
A constitutional lawyer, Festus Keyamo, said that while the President’s move must be appreciated, he (president) was “constitutionally correct” for not suspending the governors from office.
Keyamo explained that nothing in Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) gave the president the powers to dissolve the political structures.
“There are strong caveats we must issue to government in respect of this extraordinary action and that is that, it must not in any way politicise this action,” Keyamo said.
He called on Nigerians to assist government to restore law and order in the country, adding: “The bloodletting in these states left the president with no other option but to take this extraordinary step.
“This step must be appreciated in the light of the refusal of the insurgents to dialogue with the Federal Government.”
Meanwhile, some members of the House of Representatives in Abuja on Wednesday commended President Goodluck Jonathan for declaring a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.
Representative Ossai Ossai (PDP-Delta), said that the proclamation made by the president was timely and commendable.
Ossai said: “I think everybody should praise Mr President. It is high time we nipped every insurgence in our country and I believe the Constitution has given Mr President the power to issue such proclamation.
“I am looking forward to the house giving him (President ) that necessary support. I and my Constituency will give him that necessary support, because the Constitution in Section 305(1) has given the president the power.
“It has also given the president the power to transmit such issues to the National Assembly within two days probably if the house is in session and if not in session within 10 days.”
Ossai said that the proclamation was the “right step in the right direction” to bring normalcy to those areas that were previewed to be a threat to human existence.
He said that the governors and elected officers carrying on their constitutional duties in spite of the proclamation, was because the president believed in the dividend of democracy in respective of the state of emergency.
On the fear of a perceived clash between the military and the state government, Ossai said that he did not envisage any conflict.
Representative Abiodun Balogun (ACN-Ogun), also praised Jonathan for coming up with new ideas to tackle the crisis in the three states.
Balogun said: “Well it is better that the President is coming up with fresh ideas to see how the problems could be solved, but it is not just declaring state of emergency the question is will it lead to the resolution of the crises?
“If it is going to lead to the resolution of the crisis it will be good for all of us, everybody is tired with these crisis in those three states.
“One good thing is that the president has acted within the constitutional provision by not dissolving the elected government in those states, that was a very good one.
“So we hoped that for once we are not having presidential rascality, let us hope that the emergency rule will lead to resolution of the crisis to check the insurgency.”