Mixed feelings persist over emergency rule in Adamawa

Posted by admin Adamawa, Headlines, State News Monday, June 30th, 2014

NyakoEMMANUEL ANDE writes on the mixed bag of comments by various political actors and residents, on the lingering emergency rule in Adamawa State.

THE state of emergency declared in the three northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe has been on for one year, but has since been extended after an approval granted by both chambers of the National Assembly to President Goodluck Jonathan’s request.

Some residents in Yola, capital of Adamawa state, have been expressing mixed feelings over the implications. While some want

the federal government to discontinue the emergency rule, others see it as a welcome development.

Alhaji Abubakar Ahmed, a chieftain of All Progressive Congress (APC) said the resulting hardship has grounded the state. He argued that since 12 months have failed to cage the insurgents, the emergency rule should be lifted for normal life to return in the state. But the military, he added, should continue with its routine operations to maintain peace.

Mr. Haruna George, a political analyst based in Yola, said the extension was in the people’s interest, since the insurgents were still waging war in the area. He argued that the situation would be worse if the rule is lifted without caging the insurgents.

He said: “To me, I want government to change tactics by removing the governors of the three states involved in the emergency rule and replace them with military administrators. This is because I am suspecting some political office holders using their position to frustrate the efforts of the security agents.”

The President, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Adamawa Southern zone, Mr. Justine Joseph Kalakalam said cancelling emergency rule in the state would amount to government handing over the people of the state to the insurgents.

He said: “It is now that Federal government should impose real state of emergency in Adamawa, since Governor Murtala Nyako is accusing the Federal government of being behind the killings in the north.”

The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alexander Badeh, who spoke recently in Yola, commended the President for his decision to declare a state of emergency in Adamawa state, pointing out that Adamawa would have been the operational base of the terrorists if the state was left out of emergency rule.

“I completely disagree with people who are against the declaration of the state of emergency in Adamawa, he said. “Before the state of emergency, there were several attacks in Mubi, Madagali, Maiha, Ganye, Gombi and other places in the state. So, how can you say the state is safe when people were killed by the insurgents? My men discovered their hideout in Falin forest in the state recently.”

He pointed out that the President’s decision was not only in

interest of the north-east region, but was also in line

with his oath of office and the provisions of the 1999 constitution, which empowered him to always defend the people of Nigeria and its territory against insurgents.

On the activities of the insurgents in the northeast region, he

said that some foreigners were assisting the terrorists. He explained: “The insurgents’ operations is not 100 per cent Nigerian. Some foreigners are also involved by either providing logistics or personnel for their criminal activities.”

He vowed that his officers and men would continue to launch attacks on the insurgents’ abode and smoke them out of their criminal camps.

A self acclaimed spiritual healer, Alhaji Alhassan Mohammad Goni popularly called AMG, last month threatened to expose the sponsors of Boko Haram insurgency if within two weeks, the group did not suspend their campaign of bloodletting and hostilities in Nigeria. He is yet to fulfill this pledge.

The Senior Special Assistant to the governor on special duties and APC’s secretary in Adamawa, Mr. Phineas Padio said that the state of emergency in Adamawa state was politically motivated. He argued that there was no evidence of any security threat in the state. According to him, the state of emergency was

aimed at crippling governor’s political career.

“The argument that if state of emergency is declared in Borno and Yobe only, those terrorists will take abode in Adamawa as an excuse, to me, does not hold water,” he said. “If government don’t have a hidden agenda, soldiers and other security agents can be deployed to man the borders against any criminal moving into Adamawa. So, what they are saying has no substance to convince anybody about the state of emergency in the state.”

However, he pointed out that despite the ugly side of the state of

emergency, it keeps away some local criminals who had been terrorizing the people of the state. He commended the governor for his support to ensure that the residents cooperate with the security agents to avoid a breakdown of law and order in the state.

To put a permanent end to the bloody insurgency ravaging the

northeastern, the PDP chairman, Adamawa state chapter, Mr. Joel Madaki said that Federal government should dissolve all elected political structures in the affected three states (Adamawa, Borno and Yobe), to pave the way for effective military operations.

Madaki who spoke to journalists in Yola, alleged that some

political office holders in the affected states were not supporting

the military to put an end to terrorist activities. “In my opinion, I suggest that Federal government should dissolve all political structures in the three states that are under state of emergency,” he said. “This will give the security agents, especially the military, full control of the three states and check all the activities in the area.

“There will be no governor or other top government officials convoys again, so security can check each and every car that is on the road. But now, there are people within these three states security can’t check them because of their political office and nobody knows what they are moving around with.”

The Adamawa state governor, Murtala Nyako, blames his political enemies for the declaration of state of emergency in the state in the first place. He was he was taken by surprise over the president’s decision. The governor, in a state broadcast,

had said that there was no sign of any security threat in the state.

“As the chief security officer of this state, I can still repeat it

openly that I never received any report of security threat in my state, so I am surprised about the emergency rule in my state,” he said. Even people outside the state are shocked to hear that Adamawa is under state of emergency because there is nothing to warrant that kind of action.”

Part of Nyako’s controversial speech in far away United States read: “the initial assumption was that Boko Haram was religiously motivated. Nobody now associates the group with any religion; their targets have largely been within the Muslim communities. What, therefore, are the motivating factors of the so-called Boko Haram? We must answer this question correctly, to enable us determine what type of war we are fighting. The Boko Haram itself has not helped matters since it has never come out to define what type of war it is fighting. It has bombed facilities of the United Nations and those of all and sundry. It has destroyed churches and mosques and killed a large number of Muslims and Christians, irrespective of the ethnicity of their victims.

“It is, therefore, most unfortunate that in spite of professional advice to the Presidency, including two memos submitted by my humble self (hereby attached), it does not seem to know what it is facing and the type of war it should be fighting. Is it a war against terrorists, insurgents or as people are coming to believe, a nurtured war against the people in Northern Nigeria? In short, is the massive killing of people and destruction of property and the environment state-sponsored?

“Let’s face it, neither the Federal Government, nor the Nigerian

Military has ever linked those few persons paraded as Boko Haram

suspects with any of their strategic commanders or sponsors. The

locations of Boko Haram camps, such as those at Sambisa Game Reserve, which are said to be well established and stocked, are known by all traditional Defence and Security units in the Northeast. But we hear about them from the authority only on selective basis

“We now notice a new trend; the random destruction of life and

property in the style of Boko Haram in the North-East and the illegal carting away of herdsmen’s cattle now take place in all the States of Northern Nigeria and is being adjudged by the public as deliberately aimed at bringing conflict amongst the ethnic groups and between Muslims and Christians of the region.”

He continued: “There is simply no person(s) in the North-Eastern zone, rich enough to foot the financial and logistic bills of Boko Haram activities. Somebody outside the zone must have bought these arms, ammunitions and explosives somewhere which is easily traceable, paid the freight charges to Nigeria, cleared them at the Ports, conveyed them up-country through numerous check-points and put them in safe-houses in the states ready to be used by the appointed killers.

“Also, somebody must have deliberately substantially increased illegal drug traffic in the North. Today, a youth in the village might not see drug against his headache, but there would be all sorts of illegal and dangerous drugs available for him to purchase! Who are the barons behind all this?

“But most importantly, who are the strategic commanders of these illicit and murderous operations against innocent citizens including women and children? It is now clear to all and sundry that there is an unhindered coordination between the activities of Boko Haram cells and some strategic commanders sitting in some high offices in our national defence system. How else could there be such timely actions regarding the immediate withdrawal of the military near vital positions such as schools and colleges, with the immediate arrival of Boko Haram squad of murderers. Not only are these withdrawals of the military and the attacks of Boko Haram timely, it is noticed that such attacks would

last for hours without counter response by the military, even if they

are located at a hearing distance.”

However, normal activities are gradually returning to the state, apart from the hurdle of scaling through the massive military and police check points. But what the residents find disturbing is the lack of night patrols and military presence, especially around higher institutions and highly populated areas in Yola.

The Guardian observed that as from 12 midnight, all the military and police check points become empty, and they all report back to their duty post by 6am.

The question residents want the military authority to answer is: Could arms be transported only in the daytime? Why are there roadblocks only in daytime?

Recently, heavily armed gunmen took over residences surrounding the Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, which is housing 80 per cent of students and lecturers for over five hours without any intervention from any of the security agents. Angry residents want the federal government to re-examine the operations of the military for effective protection of lives and property.

However, normal business activities have resumed with traders opening and closing their shops as before. To the people of the state, the emergency rule has become part of their lives.
-Guardian

wp_posts