Jonathan May Extend Emergency Rule By Six Months

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 President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to seek an extension of emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states has sparked angry reactions from the Governor of Adamawa Murtala Nyako who described the move as a declaration of war on the state.
Nyako was reacting to a decision of the national security meeting held on Tuesday where decision was taken to extend the emergency rule in the three states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno for six months.
The Security Council is chaired by the president and is made up of the National Security Adviser (NSA), all service chiefs, Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS) and the Inspector-General of Police. Other members are the ministers of police affairs, interior and defence.

Jonathan is now seeking the National Assembly approval for extension of emergency rule in the three states.

Presidency sources at the Tuesday meeting told NewsInvestigators that  the security council was briefed on the report of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of the Security Challenges in the North, and all the service chiefs agreed on the need to extend the emergency rule,” the source added.

“The Security Council was vehement in their condemnation of the insurgents  attacks on schools and villages where innocent people were killed for no just cause.

“The service chiefs reckoned that the insurgents have been attacking soft targets as a reaction to the activities of the newly created army command in Maiduguri which has reduced their attacks to the barest minimum.”

The source further disclosed that President Jonathan charged the military to  ensure that the Boko Haram became a thing of the past.

The SSS and the police were asked to work harmoniously with the military especially in Yobe and Borno states in order to strengthen the activities of the army in the zone.

The meeting was also said to have considered and rejected the call for the dismantling of the Joint Task Force because of some vices identified with them but agreed that all the security agencies must team together in the war against the insurgents.

Meanwhile, Nyako has faulted Jonathan’s request, saying that any move to extend the current emergency rule in the state is archetypal to declaring war on the people of the state.

 The director of press and public affairs to Nyako, Mallam  Ahmed Sajoh, was quted as saying that,“It is an affront for the federal government to contemplate extending the emergency rule on the state as the one earlier imposed was not justified. We call on the National Assembly to do all they can to protect the innocent people of Adamawa from the wrath of power mongers who want to punish the whole people of Adamawa in order to get at Nyako.”

“Those that are fighting Nyako should have the courage to fight him alone but should not drag innocent people of Adamawa into another round of hardship by extending the emergency rule in the state,” Sajoh was quoted.

 

If the proximity of the state to Borno and Yobe states  was one of the factors justifying the extension of the emergency rule, then, other States like Bauchi and Jigawa should also be included, he said.