Troops, yesterday, moved into Yola, Adamawa State capital and Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, barely 24 hours after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in response to Boko Haram insurgency which has claimed several lives and destroyed many property.

HOW has Nigeria degenerated to this low level of animal behaviour of killing one another across the country? Nigerian leaders appear helpless. When as a people we collectively surrendered our sovereignty to the state to take care of all, it is the expectation that the state will protect us all. It will act in the best interest of all of us. Nigerians are afraid of their safety in almost every part of the country and the North East in particular. At a time, many well meaning Nigerians thought that the problem was about corruption and power failure, but now insecurity has taken over. 

Commercial activities and vehicular movements were paralyzed for hours, Tuesday, in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State following a peaceful demonstration by over 1000 members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Brafia, MASSOB, to rehearse their proposed June 8 sit-at-home order.

The Federal Government,Tuesday, declared a state of emergency in three states — Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states due to rising insecurity and breakdown of law and order in the states.

Alarmed by the grim prospects of the declaration of a state of emergency by the Presidency in five of their states, Northern elders are converging on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, with a view to taking far-reaching decisions to halt such a move, which they see as punitive.