Emergency rule likely in Bauchi, Kaduna – Jonathan

Posted by admin Bauchi, Kaduna, State News, Top Stories Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Goodluck Jonathan, on Tuesday, gave an indication that the Federal Government may consider declaring a state of emergency in Kaduna and Bauchi states.

Jonathan who is the president-elect spoke in his Otuoke hometown shortly after casting his vote at Otazi Playground Polling Unit in Otuabula Ward 13, Ogbia Local Government Area.

The President who was accompanied by his wife, Patience, and his mother did his accreditation at about 9:15am and retired home.

Jonathan who was full of smiles as he exchanged pleasantries with his kinsmen later appeared at the polling unit at 1pm to cast his vote.

While speaking to newsmen, the president, however, said that the federal government would not be in a hurry to declare emergency rule in Kaduna and Bauchi states.

He said state of emergency had negative implications on the growth and development of the economy adding that such state of affairs would render the economy stagnant and lead to diversion of all the resources meant for development to security.

He said the government was keenly studying events in the states and that he would not hesitate to declare an emergency rule if all conditions for such a declaration surfaced.

He said if the security situation failed to improve and all efforts to conduct governorship and house of assembly elections in the turbulent states collapsed, the federal government would have no choice but to impose emergency rule in the affected states.

According to him, measures have been put in place to conduct elections in Kaduna and Bauchi states so as to eliminate the option of state of emergency.

He said part of the effort was the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to shift elections in the affected states to 28th of April.

He said the decision would enable the government to heighten security in those areas in order to ensure smooth conduct of elections.

He explained that declaration of a state of emergence did not mean that the governor of the affected state would vacate his position.

He said: “State of emergency is not the best. If you declare a state of emergency in any state, invariably what you are saying is that there is nothing like development in that state. There may be two reasons why people are talking about state of emergency. It is either the security situation is still so bad or alternatively if by 28th of this month we are unable to conduct election in any state then by law you cannot conduct elections again until after inauguration because you need 30 days.

“In that case you have no choice but to declare a state of emergency even if there is peace. But as a president you cannot just rush to declare state of emergency. If you declare state of emergency for six months or even if it is three months, these are three months or six months of stagnation.

“We cannot just rush. That is why we deferred elections for Kaduna and Bauchi to Thursday. Let us see what happens across the country. Let us also study the situation in Kaduna and Bauchi and let us see if we move more security personnel into these states whether we can do the elections or not. If we cannot, we can consider state of emergency.”

Jonathan while appraising the 2011 election said it was a positive departure from previous polls conducted in the country.

Referring to his promise of free and fair election as an acting President, he said he would ensure that the 2015 election would be better than 2011.

He poured encomiums on Nigerians and said they had demonstrated unusual commitment for a better Nigeria by coming out en masse to participate in the election.

He also thanked the ad-hoc staff especially youth corps members used by INEC to conduct the election.

He said despite the fact that some corps members pulled out of the exercise because of their colleagues that lost their lives, others still courageously followed the process to the end.

He said the government would reward the corps members who paid the supreme price after the presidential election referring to the post-election violence as a threat to the unity of the country.

Jonathan noted that politicians should be concerned with finding solutions to knotty issues of poverty and poor infrastructure bedevilling the country instead of indulging in acts of violence.

“What I promise Nigerians, just as I promised a free and fair election as an acting President, is that the 2015 election will be better than this one because we are going to improve on the standard and make sure that what happened after the presidential election doesn’t happen again.

“Such things can bring a major division in this country. God has brought us together as one nation. The problem that we all face as politicians is how to manage the economy of this country. How do we create jobs? How do we ward off poverty? And how do we provide basic infrastructure? It is not for us to carry guns and bombs to kill. But I am sure Nigerians are realising that all of us have roles to play.

“We are happy that at least we are evolving as a nation just like other modern nations. The culture of people snatching ballot boxes is gradually fading away. So I thank Nigerians for this commitment. So we are making sure that at least, our elections are done just like other developed nations.”

-Punchwp_posts