Northern senators oppose extension of State Of Emergency in Nigeria’s north eastern states

Clear signs that President Goodluck Jonathan’s bid to extend emergency rule in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states will not have a smooth sail in the National Assembly emerged on Wednesday as members sharply disagreed on its desirability.

In the Senate, members from the North met behind closed-doors for about three hours and resolved to vote against the extension of the state of emergency.

The senators argued that its extension was not the best way to combat the insurgency in the three states.

The Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Umaru Dahiru, told journalists after the meeting, that the group had set up a committee to meet with the governments of the affected states on the way forward.

Dahiru said, “Our meeting this(Wednesday) afternoon discussed basically the issue of emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Everybody in attendance made contributions and a lot was said.

“The majority position is basically that we are not going with the state of emergency. That is our categorical position because we are not convinced that it is only the issue of emergency rule that could make the security personnel to achieve success in the area.

“We believe a lot of things ought to be addressed in order to conquer the issue of insurgency. So, our own position is that we are not going to support extension of the emergency rule in the area.

“We are going to engage the three governors in the affected states. We want to know what went wrong to be able to come up with better ways to tackle the crisis. However, the government must work for the benefits of its citizens.

“The leadership of the affected states and our forum are saying no to emergency rule.

“The constitution requires two-thirds majority in terms of voting. Of course, we are going to vote on the issue. If we can outnumber them during the voting fine, but of course, our position is that we are going to vote against it.”

The Senate had earlier on Wednesday passed a resolution summoning two ministers and the service chiefs to appear before it on Thursday(today) to explain the situation of things in the three states under emergency rule since May 2013.