Upon a motion moved by Senator Victor Lar (PDP, Plateau South), Senator Mark, at 11.28 am, read the gazette of the proclamation as communicated by the president.

Subsequently, the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, directed senators to order 136 of the Senate’s standing rule.

The rule reads: “The President shall in a closed session brief the Senate on the circumstances of the Proclamation of a State of Emergency and thereafter make available to the Senators the documents as provided by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Ndoma-Egba then moved for a closed door session in line with the provision. The motion was seconded by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume.

At the end of the closed door session at 12.44pm, the Senate again opened for plenary.

Speaking on resumption, Senator Mark said: ”You will recall that this morning, I read a letter from Mr. President that we approve his declaration of State of Emergency.

Democratic structures must be left in place

“At the closed session, we extensively discussed some of the issues that we think are very important to this proclamation of state of emergency. We want to emphasize very emphatically that all the democratic structures must be left in place and must be allowed to operate fully and actively and they must also be involved in all the efforts that the Federal Government is putting up to bring this ugly situation to an end.

“We also would like to emphasise that the Armed Forces are issued a proper code of conduct where they are humane and benevolent and make sure that all citizens are treated with utmost respect so that they do not lose their respect as human beings.

“We are conscious of the fact that government is taking this step as a last resort but alongside that, we want to encourage the government to also urge the committee on amnesty to work alongside the current functions that are put in place to bring this to an end so that at the end of the day, government can concentrate on their efforts to win the hearts and minds of the people in all the states that are affected.