The approval sought by President Goodluck Jonathan for the extension of state of emergency in the North East states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa suffered a setback for the third consecutive day, as the Senate was forced to suspend deliberation on the matter.
Unlike plenary sittings last Tuesday and Wednesday over the extension debates which ended in a deadlock after closed door sessions lasting over a combined period of over four hours, last Thursday’s sitting took a dramatic turn after the National Assembly Complex was shut down by Senate President, David Mark over altercation between security operatives and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, as he forced his way through the gate.
Other House members who accompanied him were however, not lucky, as they scaled over the gates. Journalists, members of staff of the complex and other visitors were also not left out in the confusion, as they were all locked outside the gates by security agents.
Both Chambers of the National Assembly were supposed to discuss Jonathan’s six months extension request, but that was not to be, following the invasion of the National Assembly by security agents who wore masks to cover their faces.
Already, Service Chiefs were at the Complex at the instance of senators who had earlier summoned them to appear before the upper legislative chamber on the desirability of the request.
Consequently, Thursday’s plenary at the Senate lasted for less than five minutes, as David Mark, Senate president and chairman of the National Assembly, ordered a shutdown of the federal parliament till Tuesday this week.
The pandemonium reached a climax when Mark, Tambuwal, alongside other members of the National Assembly, journalists and staff of the federal parliament were tear-gassed by security agents, some of whom wore masks and laid siege to the Complex.
He had rushed out to the House of Representatives’ Chamber ostensibly to address the situation on hearing the development to confer with the Tambuwal and his deputy Emeka Ihedioha.
He condemned the application of maximum force on legislators and civil servants who were in their respective offices to do their duties.
After a brief meeting with principal officers of the National Assembly, an embarrassed Mark said at plenary: “After due consultation with my colleagues in the both chambers of National Assembly on this ugly development, we have therefore agreed that today’s (Thursday) session be suspended forthwith.”
He summoned Sulaiman Abba, inspector-general of Police, to explain the role of the police on the matter Tuesday this week.
Speaking with journalists shortly after plenary, senators including Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe North), Ali Ndume (Borno South) and Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano South) said they maintained their opposition to the extension of the emergency rule throughout the meeting because they were not convinced that it would achieve the intended objective.
Gaya noted that the last time that the extension was granted, none of the local governments was under the control of Boko Haram, adding that at the moment in Borno State, there are 14 local governments out of 27 under the control of Boko Haram.
Gaya said: “The state of emergency did not work there in that case. We have problem also in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, we lost two or three local governments in Yobe State and almost five local governments in Adamawa State.
“So the whole thing is counterproductive. The problem is escalating; Borno camp has the highest number of refugees in Africa. I believe and we have over 25,000 to 30,000 people being paid daily to take their three square meals.
“So we believe there are lots of questions to be answered by the service chiefs. We can’t just simply grant the state of emergency just like that without inviting them to tell us what really happened, because we gave eight conditions before when we granted the last request and no condition has been met.
“That is one of the problems. When you see an army officer hiding under a bed in your dormitory, and by the sound of Boko Haram, he runs out of that place, what would you do?
“The Nigerian army had high respect before, we fought the Liberian war and in many other places and we succeeded and now, up to 90 percent of the weapons and armory of the military are in the hands of Boko Haram. So, I believe that we have to wait until we hear from the Service Chiefs, if they are able to answer our questions, then we can take the next step.”
On his part, Lawan described the state of emergency as a failure, saying the two previous requests granted by the Senate aggravated the situation there.
“We have granted two requests for extension in the past but for 18 months, the state of emergency did not work and we believe that there is no point going through the same process again.”
He insisted that the military did not need an emergency rule before it could successfully deal with the insurgency situation because there was no such proclamation in the Niger Delta region before the militants were flushed out of the place.
On allegations of financial inducement to senators by the Presidency to ensure the approval of the emergency rule, Lawan said he was not aware of such development and argued that none of his colleagues would collect money to approve Jonathan’s request.
He said: “Senators here are people of distinguished and disciplined backgrounds and therefore, no senator would take money for anything. We believe in our people, we believe that we have responsibility to our people as we work here.
“No senator will take money to work for emergency extension because someone wants him to do that. I believe those who are in support of it are doing so out of principle just like I am opposed to it out of principle. I don’t know but I believe that no senator will take money.”
Senator Boluwaji Kunlere, (PDP, Ondo South) disagreed with his colleagues, and insisted that the state of emergency should continue in the interest of peace in the country.
He said: “Whether rightly or wrongly, there is an alleged genocide. So, people must be properly protected including the president, the Senate and the citizens as well. What is the alternative for now, especially that the thing is expiring tomorrow?
“Can anybody come out to say that the celebrated hunters in the North East, can anybody come out and say that they can take charge of the situation? Even if anybody can come out to say yes, will the law be on the side of such people? That is the question we must ponder upon and take a reasonable decision.”
Senate spokesperson, Enyinnaya Abaribe, described the closed-door session as very frank, robust and sometimes, very acrimonious which is usual, in political discussion.
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“We agreed, as a Senate that the discussion will continue. And also for the purposes of having further information, invite the service chiefs to be available to also brief us on the efforts that have been ongoing in the past six months when the emergency was declared,” he said.
“We hope we will take a decision in the interest of this country. Some senators felt that it will be necessary for us to hear from the service chiefs and we all agreed that they should come and tell us themselves under condition that it is an executive session what the real situations are.”
With a charged atmosphere, observers say Tuesday’s plenary will be a make or mar session, as both the ruling PDP and opposition APC members may set for a showdown.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE
