Against the backdrop of the debate at the National Assembly on the desirability or otherwise of the extension of the emergency rule in North East as requested by President Goodluck Jonathan, analysts say extension is the way to go.
Pundits who spoke with BD SUNDAY said those opposed to the extension of the emergency rule must be very careful not to throw away the baby with the bath water.
According to them, although the constitution may not have made provision for such a situation, ad-hoc provision in the form of “doctrine of necessity” may be employed for a crucial matter as the insurgency situation in the North East.
Musa Aliyu Maiha, an indigene of Maiha Local Government Area, Adamawa State, said the level of politicking over the extension was unnecessary.
“I must tell you that it is proper to extend the emergency rule. The killings are still going on in those states and we are playing politics. Some people are running away from it because of the way the soldiers are maltreating the natives. For instance, there are complaints that soldiers sometimes storm the mosques even when there is no trouble. How can you not extend the emergency rule when the Boko Haram people are taking over villages in Adamawa and Borno? There will be serious trouble if it is not extended,” Maiha said.
A People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart from Adamawa, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent that politicians are playing bad politics with the insecurity in the country.
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“Some people are unnecessarily being childish in their argument over this matter. Jonathan does not live in Borno or Adamawa, it is our people that are being killed every day. I must say truly that if the emergency rule is not extended, the rate at which these insurgents are pushing, they will in time get to Abuja, and then the matter would have been out of hand,” the source said.
In an interview monitored on Channels Television, Mike Ejiofor, former director, State Security Service (SSS), called for the extension of the emergency rule.
“I believe it is very important that the extension be given. The question is, if you don’t get state of emergency extended now, what will be the situation? It will be worse than this,” he said, insisting that those who were against the extension were misinformed and misguided.
A cleric, which simply introduced himself as Simon, waxed biblical. He explained that failure to extend the emergency rule would be brutal to the country. According to him, if in the midst of emergency rule, insurgency is spreading like wild fire in the North East, the entire country could be overrun if the exercise is not renewed. Quoting a Bible passage, he said: “If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?”
A public affairs commentator said that beyond the clamour for the extension of the emergency rule, there must be total appraisal of the strategy.
“Our military is confronted by the enemy that does not wear uniform, thus making it difficult to identify who he is. The man sitting next to you could be a sect member without you knowing, until you find yourself in the ‘great beyond’.
“This is where the issue of change in the approach comes in. How do you tackle an enemy that does not announce his presence? How do they fight such battles in countries where similar things take place? Should the solution be confrontational or a softer approach? What about the soldiers at the ‘war front’? What is the morale level? How do they see the fight? Are they equipped with the appropriate weapons to fight? What form of incentive do they have? What happens to the injured among them, do they give adequate care? What about the dead, how are they treated? What about their families, what happens thereafter? These are necessary ingredients that would boost confidence and raise morale. And quite important if the battle would be won. Most importantly, what level of intelligence is available to the military, this is important because without adequate information, our soldiers would be battling in vain,” the analyst said.
The emergency rule was first declared in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States of the North East on May 14, 2013 by President Goodluck Jonathan over the continued activities of members of the Boko Haram sect. It was extended in November of the same year and in May 2014.
It would be recalled that Jonathan had on May 14, 2012 sought the permission of the National Assembly to impose a partial emergency rule on Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States of the North East. Following the approval, emergency rule was declared which lasted for six months. There was noticeable positive impact of the exercise as activities of the group drastically reduced.
Before the imposition of the emergency rule, the insurgents were daily on rampage, targeting Abuja and its environs. Hundreds of Nigerians were killed in some of the deadly attacks with their attendant economic losses.
But before the military could consolidate on the success of containing the sect, the group regained vitality as it were, rising from the ashes of the military onslaught and began to deal deadly and more voracious attacks particularly in the three affected states, yet under emergency.
The Federal Government felt another extension was desirable. In November last year, the National Assembly approved an extension of the exercise. It was yet again extended in May this year.
Despite the 18-month emergency rule in the North East, the Islamist group has been having a field day in the North East to the point that some villages and communities have been overrun by the insurgents who are said to have since recruited mercenaries from small neighbor countries.
Despite huge sums of money so far spent in prosecuting the war against the insurgents, respite appears not in sight.
I was pained and disappointed by the politics that is being played over the matter; even by those who should be more concerned about the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents in the North.
The pan-northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) had urged the National Assembly to disregard the President’s request for the extension of the emergency rule, alleging that it was a ploy by the Presidency to disenfranchise northerners ahead of the 2015 general elections.
The group said that the Federal Government should seek more practicable approach toward ending the Boko Haram challenge, noting that even in the midst of the emergency rule the group has become more “vicious, callous and daring in their dastardly activities of seizing more Nigerian territories without appreciable resistance from the military.”
Zebulon Agomuo
