Northern senators reject extension of emergency rule

The ‎Northern Senators Forum on Wednesday vowed to vote against the extension of state of emergency rule imposed on three North East states by President Goodluck Jonathan since last year may
The Senate had scheduled Thursday to meet the Service Chiefs before approving the extension of emergency rule requested by President Jonathan in the affected states of Yobe, Adamawa and Borno.
Briefing newsmen after three hours closed doors meeting, the leader of the Northern senators caucus, Senator Umaru Dahiru, said that extension of emergency rule in those states is not the best option to counter insurgency, which has paralyzed the economic activities of the affected states.
Dahiru however said the forum has set up a committee to meet with the government of the affected states on the way forward.
Dahiru said: “Our meeting this afternoon discussed basically the issue of emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
“Everybody in attendance made contributions and a lot was said.
“The majority position is basically that we are not going with state of emergency rule.
“What. We support is what would 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 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 leadership of the affected states and our forum are saying no to emergency rule.
“The constitution requires two-third 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 states of emergency should be declared and our position is against it and obviously, we are going to stand by it.”
The caucus however said the committee set up by the forum had submitted its report and conveyed the recommendations to the government.