“Life has still not returned to normal in these areas, shops aren’t opening. People are just sitting at home scared and sweating,” said Amina, a secretary in the neighbourhood. “They arrested a lot of people here in operations in the night.

NASS okays emergency rule

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan’s proclamation of a state of emergency in the three North-East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa received the unanimous endorsement of the Senate and the House of Representatives, yesterday.

The two Houses in separate sessions, nevertheless, qualified their endorsements with specific clauses to sustain the democratic structures in the three states.

One hundred senators, 28 more than the 72 required to endorse the proclamation, were present at yesterday’s session. The endorsement in the Senate was, however, devoid of a headcount as the lawmakers sought the coverage of a unanimous voice vote to protect themselves from the repercussions of the vote.

Two hundred and fifty three members, 13 more than the 240 members required, were present in the House of Representatives. As in the Senate, the vote was also unanimous.

However, a conference committee of the two chambers is to meet to agree on the final details of the clauses agreed by the two chambers including the clause by the House that victims of the Boko Haram insurgency be compensated by the Federal Government.

Carrot and stick policy

The Senate was the first to endorse the proclamation at the end of its closed door session at 12.46 p.m.

Reading out the Senate resolution at the end of the session, its president, Senator David Mark, urged President Jonathan to adopt a carrot and stick policy towards stopping the insurgency.

Prior to the commencement of the session, the principal officers of the Senate met again, yesterday, after last Monday evening’s meeting during which they again reviewed strategies for the day’s proceedings. Following the meeting, Mark led the principal officers into the adjoining chamber of the Senate at 11.05 a.m.