Some hours before President Goodluck Jonathan declared a State of Emergency in three
Northern State, namely Borno, Yobe and Adamawa State, the
Senate have agreed to approve the plan of declaring an emergency rule in the
troubled northern states.
The Senate’s majority caucus, made
of members of the ruling People Democratic Party,
said, after a meeting, they had received no such emergency request from the
president as of yet. They hinted however that such will be considered on merit
if it came.
The lawmakers said they have agreed that where such a
declaration was made, it will not affect the elected structures in the affected
states-potentially Borno and Yobe states.
“We haven’t received any request from Mr. President, but one
thing is certain; everybody has agreed that a state of emergency as envisaged
under our constitution does not contemplate the dissolution of elected
structures,” Majority Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, said after the meeting.
He added impliedly; “So we agreed on the import, but we haven’t
received any request from the President on a state of emergency. When we
receive request, if it does come at all, then we’ll treat it on its merit.”
The decision came a day after the Nigeria Governors Forum
advised the president to jettison calls for emergency in the crises-ridden
states as violence escalates in the past weeks leaving hundreds dead and
displacing many.
Top opposition parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria and the
Congress for Progressive Change, had earlier rejected any plan to impose
emergency rule, with the ACN asking the president to step down if that remained
the administration’s only option.
Mr. Ndoma-Egba said National Assembly leadership remained in
consultation with the president on the emerging scale of insecurity, and he
believed a “very decisive and clear measure will be in place sooner than later”
another allusion to the prospect of an emergency rule.
“They are security matters so I won’t go into any details, but
the leadership of the National Assembly has been engaging with the President on
the state of insecurity and I believe that very decisive and clear measure will
be in place sooner than later,” he said.
He said the meeting also considered the political situation in
Rivers and Akwa-Ibom states; the first involving Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the
state House of Assembly and the state PDP chapter; and the second involving
Governor Godswill Akpabio and a senator, Aloysius Etok.
The senate will intervene in the states, and a committee has
been named to reconcile the aggrieved sides, he said.
“It was decided that there was need for the Senate PDP caucus to
intervene with a view to see how we can return the two states to cordiality and
normalcy,” he said. “And to that effect we have set up committees to engage the
dramatis personae in the two states, and those committees will get to work
immediately.”
He said the aborted attempt by federal lawmakers to be made
members of the National Executive Committee of their parties remained on
course.
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