6th November, 2013
Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday asked the National Assembly to approve the extension by six months of emergency rule in three north eastern states of Nigeria where activities of militant sect, Boko Haram has resulted in loss of over 4000 lives.
In separate letters to the Senate and the House of Representatives, the president asked the lawmakers to extend the six month emergency rule which was declared in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa State in May and is supposed to end on 12 November by another six months.
The letter was read out by Senate President David Mark at Wednesday’s plenary of the upper chamber.
“May I respectfully draw your attention to the State of Emergency Proclamation 2013, in respect of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, which was approved by the National Assembly.
“By virtue of the provisions of Section 305(6) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the Proclamation aforementioned will elapse after a period of six months from the date of approval except the period is extended by the National Assembly”, President Jonathan said.
The President also noted in the letter that though with the support of security agencies and citizens in the affected areas, the security agencies have recorded considerable successes in containing the activities of the terrorist elements, there are still challenges in some areas of the affected states.
The extension of the emergency rule, he said will aid the security agencies efforts to bring normalcy to areas with the security challenges.
“As a result of the laudable efforts of our security agencies and the support of the citizens in the affected areas, we have achieved considerable successes in containing the activities of the terrorist elements. However, some security challenges still exist in a few parts.
“Consequently, it has become pertinent to request the approval of the Distinguished Senate for an extension of the State of Emergency for a further period of six months, during which time it is expected that normalcy would have been fully restored.
“In view of the foregoing, I most respectfully request the Distinguished Senate to consider and approve by resolution the extension of the Proclamation of the State of Emergency by a further period of six months with effect from the 12th of November 2013,” the President said in the letter.
While lawmakers swiftly approved Jonathan’s initial request for a state of emergency in May, it was not immediately clear if securing the extension would be as smooth.
“It looks like more people have been killed under the emergency than before the emergency,” said Kyari Mohammed, a Boko Haram expert at the Modibbo Adama University in Yola, the capital of Adamawa.
He added that while the continuing massacres around Borno and Yobe may provide political justification for the extension, there was little evidence that the strategy over the last six months had been effective.
Attacks appeared to have partly shifted out of major cities into more remote areas but the number, scale and brutality of strikes blamed on Boko Haram militants have remained unchanged.
More than 100 students in the northeast have been killed under emergency rule in a range of massacres on mostly defenceless civilians.
In Borno state, the mobile phone network remains switched off, a move the military said would stop the Islamists from coordinating attacks but which critics say has stopped residents from sounding the alarm when attacks begin.
Mohammed noted Jonathan’s bid to extend emergency rule in Adamawa will be “problematic”, as the area has seen far less violence than Borno and Yobe and residents were growing increasingly frustrated.
Lawmakers will likely debate and vote on the request in the coming days.
Ayo Oluokun/Abuja with agency reports