State of emergency: The law supports suspension of human rights – Lawyer

Human Rights lawyer, Odion Odia, on Thursday said that the collateral damages that might occur as a result of state of emergency would not amount to violation of human rights.
Odia told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that under the law, the rights of citizens remained suspended during state of emergency.
According to him, the only way to manage the loss of lives and protection of other rights is to appeal to law enforcement agents to abide by the rules of their engagement.
He, however, said that in most cases, particularly when troops were deployed to affected areas, they were under attack and thus it was difficult to rule out collateral damages.
Odia said: “There is no violation of human rights in the states where the state of emergency has been declared because the law is clear about that.
“The law states that when state of emergency is declared either in the whole of the federation or in any part of the federation, the rights of the citizens in those areas are suspended.
“This is one of the collateral damages that must be expected in a situation like this.
“So, there is nothing like infringement of the rights of people living in those states.
“However, the only way to manage it is by appealing to law enforcement agents, who will be deployed to the affected areas, to try as much as possible to observe the rules of engagement.”
Odia, who disagreed with some Nigerians who queried the declaration of the state of emergency, said: “It is even long overdue.”
He said that though the measure came when insurgents had done so much damage, it was a right step in the right direction.
He pointed out that the Senator representing Borno South, Senator Ahmed Zanna, had said in an interview that 24 of the 27 local governments in the state had been taken over by insurgents.
He added that the development was a clear indication of war and imminent invasion that warranted the step being taken.
He said: “I don’t think that what the president has done is inappropriate in the circumstance.
“The law gives him the power to do so and that is by virtue of Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution.
“Whoever says we do not have a clear declaration of war in those states is not living in this country.
“There is a clear declaration of war and that is the only thing the president can do, not be seen to be condoning this type of situation.
“Even though the action is belated, it is better late than never.
“I listened to an interview granted by Senator Zanna.
“He is the senator representing Borno Central and he said there are 27 local governments in Borno and that 24 or 23 of those local governments have been overtaken by insurgents.”
Speaking on the right of governors and House of Assembly members in the affected states, Odia said they reserved the constitutional right to exercise their powers.
He, however, noted that there was a suspension of the rights of the governors over security matters, adding that their powers as Chief Security Officers had been withdrawn.
The troops being deployed to those areas could only report directly to the Chief of Defence Staff, who would in turn brief the president, he said.
He said: “There is nothing in Section 305 of the constitution that permits the president to remove any governor or any lawmaker in the House of Assembly.
“The constitution is clear and for a governor to be removed, he can only base it on impeachment, state of health of the governor or through resignation.
“However, security agents will not report to the governors of the affected states as far as security matters are concerned because that power had been stripped off them as long as the state of emergency last.”