If the National Assembly gives its nod, there would be a six-month extension of the emergency rule in the three northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, following a request tabled by President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday. Ike Ekweremadu, deputy Senate president, read the letter conveying the request at plenary. In another letter to Aminu Tambuwal, speaker of the House of Representatives, President Jonathan said that despite heavy presence of security forces in the affected areas following the emergency rule, the security situation remained unchanged.

The letter entitled: ‘Re: Extension of the period for the proclamation of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States’ reads in part: “May I respectfully draw your attention to the State of Emergency Proclamation 2013, in respect of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, which was approved by the National Assembly. By virtue of the provisions of section 305(6)(c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, the Proclamation aforementioned would have elapsed after six months from the date of approval of the National Assembly.”

Continuing, the President said, “However, after due consideration of the representations made of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to that effect, while substantial progress had been made to contain situation that necessitated the proclamation of a state of emergency was yet to abate. It would be recalled that the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had upon consideration of the realities of the security situation in the affected States that had been placed before it graciously approved by resolution, the extension of the State of Emergency for a further term of six months from the date of expiration of the subsisting period.”

According to him, the security situation in the three states remained daunting, albeit to varying degrees, in the face of persistent attacks by members of the Boko Haram sect on civilian and military targets with alarming casualty rates.

“In view of the foregoing, I most respectfully request Distinguished Senators to consider and approve by resolution, the extension of the Proclamation of the State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe States by a further term of six months from the date of expiration of the current term,” said the President.

Ahmad Lawan, chairman Senate Committee on Public Account and secretary of the Northern Senators Forum, objected to an extension of the state of the emergency in the three states. The senator, who represents Yobe North in the Upper Chamber, said he would only support more armament and funding for the troops already deployed to the states. “The state of emergency had been operated for 12 months now and will end on the 19th of this month. I think that should be the end. The Senate President, David Mark, who spoke on our behalf last week, told President Goodluck Jonathan that the Senate was prepared to approve supplementary budget to further equip the military and boost the morale of the soldiers. Therefore, I am completely opposed to the extension of the state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, but I support further funding for the military operation in the area,” said Lawan.

There was also opposition to the extension of the emergency rule at the House of Representatives. For instance, Aminu Suleiman, representing Kano, told the media after plenary that, “One year after, has the situation changed? What have they done with the huge sums budgeted for? These are a million Naira questions they need to answer. They need to justify the amount spent so far. They may have to explain to us why it should be extended.”