Two major opposition parties have asked President Goodluck Jonathan to resign if the only option available for him to solve the security problem in the North is state of emergency. The Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress of Nigeria, in separate statements on Sunday, alleged that the President was contemplating declaring state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states. The parties alleged that the planned state of emergency declaration was part of the Peoples Democratic Party’s moves to capture more states in 2015. The ACN, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that any move to impose a state of emergency on the northern states worst hit by the Boko Haram crisis could only be aimed at giving an undue advantage to the PDP rather than ending the crisis.
“If the imposition of emergency rule on the most affected states is the only viable option left for President Jonathan to tackle the crisis, then he should step down,” the party said. It noted that the crisis had dragged on for long because of the failure of the Jonathan administration to appropriately diagnose the Boko Haram problem. The ACN added that the administration had exhibited lethargy and lack of creativity in devising measures to end the crisis. The party stated, ‘’Perhaps President Jonathan should emulate late United States President Harry Truman by putting a sign on his desk at Aso Rock that reads ‘The buck stops here’ to remind him that he bears the ultimate responsibility for the security situation in the country today, instead of any attempt to blame some state governors in the affected states.
“Imposing a state of emergency on the states that have been mentioned, like Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states will amount to shifting responsibility and unduly victimising the governors of those states, who have done perhaps more than the President, in dealing with the crisis, even though they are not in charge of any security apparatus.” It said that the President had abandoned the states affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. The ACN noted that for about two years after assuming office, he refused to visit the states until the All Progressive Congress governors visited the states. The opposition party said, “It is also important to warn that since the listed states are not under the control of the PDP and going by precedence President Jonathan is sure to appoint card-carrying PDP members to preside over the affairs of the state in the event that he imposes emergency rule on them, it will amount to robbing the citizens of those states of their mandate and capturing more states for the PDP.
“In any case, the affected states are already heavily militarised with the massive deployment of troops there to battle the Boko Haram insurgency, and one wonders what else will change if they are put under emergency rule beyond just removing elected officials like Obasanjo did wantonly during his tenure.” The party said if the President found the state of emergency option the most viable, he should put Abuja, where the police headquarters, a military barracks and the United Nations complex had been bombed under state of emergency. It added that emergency rule should also be imposed on the states in the south where kidnapping had become a daily occurrence and the areas where the nation’s crude oil were being stolen in millions of barrels under state of emergency.
It advised Jonathan to stick to dialogue in dealing with the Boko Haram crisis, with the hope that a determined pursuit of the new measures, rather than “a half-hearted, made-for-klieg lights posturing, will help end the crisis.” The CPC, through its spokesman, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, also aligned with the ACN’s position. It stated, “If he (Jonathan) does not have any value to add, he should quit. He should declare a state of emergency on his party, the PDP. The PDP is the problem of Nigeria.” The party said that there was every reason to believe that the President was contemplating declaration of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states. The CPC condemned in the violence in the states and commiserated with families of those that were killed in the crises.
The CPC recalled that a former National Security Adviser, Late General Andrew Owoye Azazi, had alerted the nation that the politics of the PDP was responsible for the insecurity in the country. But the Presidency on Sunday insisted that the Federal Government was not considering the option of declaring state of emergency in any of the states where there is prevalence of violence now. Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, said this in an interview with our correspondent while reacting to the ACN and CPC statements. “I have addressed that issue on Saturday. I have said that state of emergency is not an option. So what is the meaning of the statements they issued? There is no basis for the statements,” he said.
Abati had told journalists on Saturday that the Federal Government was studying the situation in the affected states with a view to taking decisions that would be in the overall interest of the states and the country. He had said, “No such decision (declaration of emergency) has been taken and people should stop speculating. The Federal Government is studying the situations in the affected states and would take decisions that would be in the overall interest of the security of not just the people of the states affected but also of the country. “Declaration of state of emergency is a serious thing that should not be speculated about. There is a proper communication channel of informing Nigerians of such decision. There is nothing like that.”
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