Senators on Tuesday “unanimously” approved President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for the declaration of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.
The the Senate President, David Mark, reported the decision at plenary, saying the approval followed “an extensive discussion” in a closed session with 100 senators in attendance.
Mark said that the Senate agreed that while leaving all democratic structures in place, the Federal Government must ensure that the operations of the army were fully funded.
He said: “We would like to support the Federal Government in this proclamation of the state of emergency in the three states.
“We also would like to remind the president that Federal Government must fund the operations there properly and adequately.
“As the operation is going on, relief and all medical materials should be as quickly as possible, moved to the area so that the people can benefit from government’s presence
“We want to emphasise very emphatically that all the democratic structures must be left in place and must be allowed to operate fully and actively.
“They must also be involved in all the efforts that the Federal Government is putting up to bring this ugly situation to an end.”
Mark said that that the armed forces must also be instructed to ensure that they operated within the ambits of the law.
“We also would like to emphasise that the armed forces are issued a proper code of conduct, where they are humane and benevolent and make sure that all citizens are treated with utmost respect,” he said.
Mark urged the amnesty committee to intensify efforts to bring the situation to an end and explained that government adopted the emergency rule option as a last resort.
He said: “We are conscious of the fact that there was lawlessness, there was anarchy and mayhem in most of the places that are involved in the declaration of state of emergency.
“We appreciate the fact that government must take every possible step to bring this to an end as quickly as possible with minimal loss of lives and materials.”
The Senate president expressed concern that in some of local government areas, the insurgents were “flying their own flag, collecting tax and running a parallel and illegal government.”
He advised government to ensure rapid development of the affected areas as soon as the military operations ended and called on the insurgents to embrace peace.
Mark also urged other states not involved in the operation to cooperate with the government in order to bring the situation to an end.
Also briefing newsmen after the plenary, the Senate spokesman, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, said that senators in the closed session decided to put aside party differences and took “a decision that was in the interest of the nation.
“In our closed session, we spoke frankly with one other and all agreed that the interest of Nigeria comes before any political leaning.
“This informed the unanimous vote of senators.”
Abaribe explained that the Senate adopted the voice vote method to protect some senators from suffering any harm by uninformed members of the public.
On funding arrangement for the military operations, Abaribe gave the assurance that the Senate would give prompt approval to any request for additional funding of the military operations.
Commenting on the decision of the Senate, Senator Gbenga Ashafa (ACN-Lagos) said that the opposition parties were enlightened on certain issues, which informed the way they voted.
“After we (opposition) were cleared on the positive aspects of the state of emergency, we decided that the best thing to do is to look at the mood of Nigerians and do the best in the interest of those that we represent,” Ashafa said.
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