BY DANIEL IDONOR, Abuja
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday ruled out any plans to impose a state of emergency in Borno State. The President, in response to calls that he should impose emergency rule in the state held hostage by the Ismalic sect Boko Haram, declared that normalcy was gradually returning to the troubled state and that with such good news, there was no need for emergency rule in the state.

The President also dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the hosting of the British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron in Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, as against the legal capital of Abuja by President Goodluck Jonathan was a smear on the country’s sovereignty. He also said that it was untrue that the PM preferred to visit only Lagos because of the activities of Boko Haram, saying a second major reason for the visit was the lecture at the Pan African University, sited in Lagos.

At a maiden interactive session with State House Correspondents, new Presidential Spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, faulted the claims, saying that the criticism was unnecessary, as the PM’s visit was a working and not State Visit. According to him, Mr President is not under any legal obligation to receive visiting world leaders only in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. He dismissed the reports in some media (not Vanguard) as clear mischief executed to stir controversies.

“Foreign dignitaries are not running away from Abuja, I mean Abuja is not under siege. You will recall of course that it was in this same Abuja that Nigeria hosted the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. And then, some people are saying that it was wrong to have hosted the British Prime Minister in Lagos and that it amounts to violation of Nigeria’s sovereignty. The truth of the matter is that the British PM was in Nigeria on a working visit, it was a distinct visit. Diplomats will tell you that there is distinction between a state visit and a working visit.

“And that working visit was targeted mostly at meeting with the business community and where is the business community principally domiciled if not in the country’s major commercial centre, which is Lagos?

“Secondly, the Prime Minister had been scheduled to give a lecture at the Pan African University in Lagos and this was well reported. So, Mr President’s going to Lagos to receive him, I don’t see how it amounts to violation of sovereignty.

“The meeting was held in State House, Marina and it is government premises. It wasn’t as if he was received in a hotel and Lagos is a part of Nigeria and the President can meet with anybody in any part of Nigeria. I just thought this should be clarified”, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity stated.

He also listed Seven Acts of the National Assembly forwarded to Presidential assent which Mr President has responded to by signing them into laws. They include Evidence; legal Aid; Industrial Training Fund (amended); Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria; Debt Management Bureau (Establishment); Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment); and Customary Court of Appeal of the FCT (Jurisdiction on chieftaincy matters.

On calls by Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, on President Jonathan to put to test the implementation of Freedom of Information law, FOI Law, by unveiling all information before the Nigerian public relating to the ill-health and consequent death of late Umaru Yar’adua, the Presidential Spokesman described the move as a mere suggestion that is not binding on Aso Rock. According to him, the law was not only meant for his boss to be tested but every Nigerian, including Prof Soyinka who wishes to put the new law into practice.