Sagay, Tsav disagree on state of emergency

Constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay, on Tuesday said the declaration of state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States by President Goodluck Jonathan was a right step in the right direction.
Sagay said the move was rather late considering the dangerous turn of attack by insurgents, particularly in the North Eastern states.
He, however, commended the Federal Government for taking such a bold step.
He said if government had not taken such a decision, the terrorists would have fully taken over the affected states.
He said: “I’m fully in support of it.
“It is the right step.
“But in my view, it’s been taken rather late because the way we were going, this Boko Haram was beginning to fancy itself as a real authority and power in Nigeria.
“Not only that, but the authority with the right and capacity to exterminate lives en mass.
“It is a terrorist group that has absolutely no regard for human lives, no feeling.
“They are just mass murderers taking control of some parts of the country and those parts of the country are beginning to yield to their pressure and accepting their authority.
“We would have ended up having some states created and being run by terrorists and Al-Qaeda adherents next door to Nigeria and so the president took the right step.”
Sagay also commended the Federal Government for abiding by constitutional provisions on the need for governors and Houses of Assembly in the affected states to fully exercise their constitutional rights.
He faulted the pattern, which refused to respect the provisions of the constitution by dimming the rights of governors and Houses of Assembly.
He said a situation where the military was given power to oversee affairs of states under the state of emergency was totally unconstitutional.
He said: “I fully support him and I also support the fact that he also stated the correct state of the law, which states that the governors and Houses of Assembly cannot be affected.
“The constitution states clearly in Section 5 paragraphs 4 and 11 that the state of emergency cannot affect the governors and members of the House of Assembly.
“So you can have a state of emergency, you can have increased power for the military, reduce civil rights and human rights that will enable them to do their work effectively.
“He has done the right thing all through this time.”
Sagay urged the Federal Government to take necessary steps in not just declaring the emergency rule but to ensure the enforcement of law and order for security of lives and property.
He also called on the government to explore other avenues aimed at ensuring the success of the state of emergency in the affected states.
According to him, government should also consider the declaration of curfew, restriction of movement, and right of military personnel to carry out door-to-door house search.
And from Lagos came the reaction that the declaration of state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States by President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday would further provoke terrorists to embark on mass attack.
Retired Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Tsav, a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the declaration by Jonathan would render useless the objectives behind the Committee he set up to dialogue with Boko Haram.
The retired police chief said  the military had already taken over the states long ago, adding that the mere pronouncement would not change the situation.
Tsav also said that he was surprised the President could not condemn the actions of Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo and the killings in Bayelsa State.
The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) said it would continue to pray for the President in spite of its contrary view to the declaration of emergency rule in three northern states.
The Primate of the church, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, made the remark on Tuesday in Abuja in a reaction to the declaration of state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The cleric, who had earlier on Monday voiced his opposition to calls for emergency rule, insisted that the position was not “personal.”
He told the News Agency of Nigeria on the telephone: “My call on government not to impose an emergency rule in Borno and other states was not a personal one.
“It was borne out of past declarations in the country which failed to address the security situation.”
According to him, “we will continue to pray for him (President Goodluck Jonathan) and he should be guided by the constitution.
“I am not a lawyer but I understand from the President’s declaration that we now have two kinds of state of emergencies in the country.
“In the past, a former president imposed state of emergency and suspended the governor and other political office holders in the affected state.
“But now we have a state of emergency imposed on some states with the governors still maintaining their seats.”
Okoh added: “Like I said, we will continue to pray for him and for peace in the nation.”