ACF To NASS: Jonathan’s Emergency Rule Has Failed, Don’t Approve Its Extension

The pan-northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, yesterday asked members of the National Assembly to reject President Goodluck Jonathan’s request to extend the emergency rule in the three north-east states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, arguing that the current ploy was aimed at disenfranchising northerners ahead of the 2015 general elections.

The ACF, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Muhammad Ibrahim, on Thursday in Kaduna, described the president’s request for extension of emergency rule in the affected states for the fourth time as uncalled for since it had so far failed to yield desired results, but rather produced an opposite effect.

The ACF said: “It is really unfortunate and worrisome that the Federal Government appears not to have a better solution or strategy to end this menace than the imposition of emergency rule, which have made no significant impact on the effort to restore peace and order”.

Adducing reasons why the National Assembly must not approve the request, the Forum noted that the emergency rule appeared to have provided the terrorists the opportunity to be more “vicious, callous and daring in their dastardly activities of seizing more Nigerian territories without appreciable resistance from the military. In fact towns like Bama, Gwoza, Dikwa, Buni-Yadi, Madagali and many more in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa have been under the control of the Boko Haram insurgents in the last two months”.

The ACF, therefore, restated its demand that the federal government live up to its constitutional responsibility of providing adequate security and good governance, and to equip the military and security agencies properly.