Guardian

THE declaration of state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states is attracting mixed feelings from a cross section of Benue people, with majority in support of the action.

A frontline politician and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart, Chief Abu Shuluwa, in a telephone interview with The Guardian, described the action of the President as lacking focus.

Shuluwa questioned the rationale in declaring a state of emergency in only three states and leaving the state governors and Assembly members to continue to administer, wondering who then would be in control in charge the states.

“I recall that under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, state of emergency was declared in Plateau State and then governor, Joshua Dariye, was asked to step aside for six months.

“Why is it that the President did not do the same? This action will not achieve any purpose,” he stated.

Shuluwa, who is one of the founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State, also queried why the President did not declare state of emergency in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Kano, Bayelsa, Benue, Plateau and Bauchi states, where there have also been serious security challenges.

On his part, retired Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, reckoned that it would only give the military legal backing to kill and harass innocent citizens in the affected states, noting that it is not good enough in a democracy.

Tsav insisted that military force is not a good solution to tackling insurgence in the country, stressing that dialogue remains the panacea to the security challenges.

He said: “I view the declaration as a mere formality. Why did the President refuse to comment on Asari Dokubo’s statements that tend to spark further violence in the country? Now he has gone ahead to declare state of emergency in some states.”

On the slaying of police officers in Nasarawa State recently, Tsav said what happened was an indication that Nigeria’s security apparatus was failing and urged the Federal and Nasarawa State governments to quickly compensate families of the deceased officers, grant scholarships to their children and pay their death benefits.

But former Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Donatus Zuanah, told The Guardian that declaring state emergency was in most of the states was long overdue, noting that the armed insurgency and terrorism in the affected states amounted to a declaration of war against the country.

He maintained that no responsible government would continue to tolerate such a situation, adding that full state of emergency should have been declared in entire states at the time it was done in some councils.

He said it was failure to do so encouraged the terrorists and insurgents to kill people and destroy properties almost at will.

On who should take orders from who, the legal expert said he saw no issue in that, stressing that soldiers take orders from their superior officers or commander in chief, especially as governors do not control security agencies; hence there may be no conflict on where to take orders from.

“I think leaving the governors in place is to ensure a political balancing and avoid being accused of ulterior political motives to take over the states for political gains in 2015,” he averred.

Zuanah however expressed concern that the people of the states under emergency would suffer some infringement on their civil liberties, such as detention without immediate trial and seizure of properties without due process, adding that laws enacted that conflict with the objectives or operation of the emergency rule would be suspended.

The former NBA boss quoted Section 305 of the 1999 constitution, as amended, saying the President does not have to remove governors or legislators or political office holders in situations like this, as Obasanjo did it in Plateau and Ekiti states in the past.