Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

Events in the country are moving in rapid succession as if they are shifting sands. Ever since the Boko Haram sect decided to wage war against the state and its people, particularly, Christians, who Abubakar Shekau, the sect leader, refers to as enemies of Allah, the nation has been cowering in   fear and intimidation, principally handing over its fate to God.

Apparently emboldened by the inability of the security agencies to stop the gale of terrorist attacks in the three North-east states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, the evil men have taken delight in bombing strategic public institutions and almost always getting away with it. An asinine and provocative pattern of response to series of attacks by the insurgents has even been established by those saddled with the task of protecting the citizens from harm’s way: It is as if as each attack gives way, security agents return to base and literally do nothing to prevent further assault until another or even more deadly confrontation occurs.

This was the pattern adopted when the United Nations House in Abuja was bombed by Boko Haram fighters; nothing was done about it until the insurgents bombed the Police Headquarters right at the city centre and close to the seat of power.
Then came the Nyanya blasts on April 14 and May 1, 2014.

Despite the many army barracks, police stations and other numerous security outfits that straddle Abuja and environs, not many now feel state safe to sleep with their two  eyes closed. The residents are pained, agitated and buffeted by constant fear of the unknown. While the situation in the FCT, which has witnessed several lethal onslaughts by terrorists, remains manageable, residents and natives of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa State, where Boko Haram fighters have their strongholds, can be likened to a people whose destiny has been handed over to uncertainty.

The natives of the three states live at the mercy of terrorists, who have consistently wreaked incalculable havoc in the areas. But of all the atrocities so far committed by the daring insurgents, the abduction of over 200 girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State remains the most devastating and inhumane crime by the malevolent agents.

Despite the fact that the abduction and the first blast in Nyanya occurred on the same day, national and global attention has since shifted from the Abuja blast to the Chibok girls, whose faces were recently shown in a footage by the Boko Haram leader, Shekau, to the consternation of the world.

As the parents of the children and the world plead with Boko Haram to free them, attention is once again moving gradually from their abduction to the desirability or otherwise of the extension of the state of emergency that has been in operation in the three North-east states.   Not many, particularly, those in the affected states are happy with the continued deployment of soldiers there. Their freedom of movement has been hampered.

It is a Herculean task to move from one location to another in any of the three states since President Goodluck Jonathan slammed emergency rule in the states and deployed soldiers to man their gates, roads and other institutions. Twice, Mr. President sought the approval of the National Assembly to declare emergency in the three states and twice the lawmakers granted his request with glee.

The first was in May 2013 while the second was in November of the same year. Even at the declaration of the emergency rule in the first instance, the governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, did not see any justification for the inclusion of his state, saying the security situation there did not warrant the imposition. According to him, the state was substituted for Taraba, which was originally slated for the declaration of emergency rule by the President.

Third time
Getting the National Assembly to approve the emergency rule for the third time may pose some difficulty to the leaders of the NASS. But the consolation lies in the belief that like the principle of necessity, which the NASS devised to enthrone President Jonathan when hawks dubiously attempted to circumvent his ascension to the Presidency, virtually all the members granted the request by Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in the three states and there was nothing the governors could do about it.

But a year after the slamming of emergency rule, it has not mitigated the attacks by terrorists. In fact, many in the affected states claim that the action of the President has emboldened the terrorists to launch more attacks than when he did not declare emergency rule.. It was, therefore, not surprising that the latest request by Jonathan for the elongation of the state of emergency in the three states, dated May 5 and addressed to the Senate President David Mark and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, met with some resistance even before it could be read to members.

Apart from the governors, who have described the renewed bid by the President to extend emergency rule in their states as unnecessary, lawmakers from the affected states have also risen against the request, saying it was uncalled for given the fact that the presence of the military in those states has not even marginally reduced attacks by insurgents.

Although the governors have not met at a central point to forge a response to the President’s request, their separate responses are as acidic in tone and language as it is scary and potentially capable of causing Jonathan some upset. In fact, Governor Kassim Shettima, whose state of Borno bears the most imprint of Boko Haram assaults, angrily described the emergency rule imposed in his state, Adamawa and Yobe as ‘useless’,   accusing the military of being ineffective in carrying out their responsibility.

Avoidable problems
He said: “This state of emergency is useless; these wicked people had a field day when they annexed Giwa Barracks; the civilian JTF confronted them; many of them died. “This state of emergency is nonsense; our major concern is to find our Chibok girls alive, I can sacrifice my life for that,  wallahi, wallahi  (I swear by Allah).”

Shettima is not alone. Governor Nyako of Adamawa has not spared Jonathan’s latest move to extend emergency rule by six more months. Just like his Borno counterpart, Nyako said the emergency already in place had not added any advantage to the fight against terrorists but had merely worsened the quality of life for the people and created avoidable problems across the state.

Nyako, who spoke through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Mr. Ahmed Sajoh, said the emergency was a failure and should be discontinued while the Federal Government should adopt a more concrete method of combating insurgency in the country.
“We still hold our position that there was no need to declare a state of emergency in Adamawa in the first place because the level of attacks in the state has even increased with the imposition of emergency rule”, Nyako said.

“As far as we are concerned, the state of emergency has not changed anything and we advise the government to adopt a new approach in tackling the insurgency rather than the business-as-usual tactics that do not add up.”

The Yobe State governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, was more formal in his rejection of the move by Jonathan to elongate the state of emergency in the state.

In a strongly-worded letter, which he issued through his Special Adviser on Press Affairs and Information, Abdullahi Bego, Gaidam said he took serious exception to the move by Jonathan to further extend emergency rule, wondering what it was meant to achieve.
According to the governor, the affected states could be effectively manned by security agencies without  state of emergency if they are properly equipped and motivated to do their work.

Senators join fray
The governors are not alone in their opposition to Jonathan. Northern senators have already served notice that they will not approve the request for further extension of the emergency rule.  As a demonstration of their seriousness over the issue, senators from the northern part of the country met for over three hours on Wednesday and resolved to vote against the extension when it comes to plenary. The Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum, NSF, Senator Umaru Dahiru, told journalists that apart from opposing the extension being requested by Jonathan, they were going to meet with the three governors of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno to know if there was need to further adjust their position.

“If you notice, we had a meeting this afternoon and basically the issue of state of emergency is one of things that we discussed. We discussed it thoroughly, the pros and cons because majority of us were here to make their own contributions and a lot has been said. “This time around, if you discover in the past a request was made and it was approved the way it came. This time around there is a rethink. The majority position, which we have agreed upon, is that we are not going with the state of emergency.

“Categorically, that is our position. We are not convinced that it is only under the state of emergency that the security personnel can achieve maximum result. We believe that more needs to be done and there are things that need to be addressed to conquer insurgency,” Dahiru said.
For the Senate leadership, which is known to be very supportive of Jonathan and his policies, the latest attempt by Senators and the three northern governors to reject the extension of emergency rule, may once again bring to the fore the ability of David Mark to manage the fallouts.

Apparently to douse the smouldering fire, the Senate on Wednesday tactically deferred voting on the matter, opting instead to summon Service Chiefs and security officials in Jonathan’s administration to brief them on the state of security in the affected states.

As the 1999 Constitution provides in Section 304(6), the Senate requires two third majority to approve the request by the President and that may prove to be a tough task to accomplish given the angst of the northern senators over the matter. But the Senate President, who has handled even tougher challenges on the floor of the upper chamber, has the may come with a joker to herd the dissenting politicians from the north into the side of the majority.

As the battle ground shifts from Nyanya to Chibok and from Chibok to state of emergency in the North-east, the furore generated across the word simply adds to Jonathan’s problems and amplify the position of one journalist, who wrote last week: “Jonathan is a President in need of help”. But is the help on the way? Jonathan can, however, take consolation in the interest being shown by the United States and its allies to help find the missing girls with or with no state of emergency in Borno or any of the northern states. That is a bid soothing.