Emergency Rule: Three Governors; Nyako, Shettima, Gaidam May Be Suspended Today

Governors will be decided at the Presidential Villa today when the rescheduled expanded Security Council Meeting holds to pave way for total emergency rule in the three states seriously troubled by the Boko Haram insurgents.

The three states are Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, with Murtala Nyako, Kashim Shettima and Ibrahim Gaidam respectively, as Governors.

All the states are under the control of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

The emergency rule which had been elongating for the past six months officially expired on April 19, but top notch security officials are asking President Goodluck Jonathan not just for extension but absolute control in the affected areas, as it seems the war against insurgency is yielding no results.

The proposal to suspend elected political actors was further hinged on the indictment, by security officials, of some politicians and affluent citizens in the society alleged to be either sponsoring the Boko Haram insurgents, or sabotaging government efforts to contain the menace.

Atop security official told Daily Independent on Tuesday that: “The politicians and elite, including the Governors in those states, are working against our programme; their unguarded utterances are daring the insurgents. They seem to have known the agenda of the insurgents and they are always ready to defend them.

“For example, these criminals attack, kill innocent people, these politicians would blame us and whenever we are able to locate their hideouts and smoke them out, they would be out accusing us of killing innocent Nigerians.

“This is why some of us are of the opinion that suspending them while the emergency rule lasts is the best option,” th source said.

However, observers are raising eyebrows over this, alluding to Borno Governor, Nyako, as a mere scapegoat in the ploy, especially bearing in mind that he recently lashed out at the President, accusing him of complicity in the Boko Haram attacks.

“These politicians are making our job difficult, you don’t even know on whose side they are. But from all indications, they are not supporting our operations.

“One of the Governors the other time said the insurgents were better armed than our troops. Just this weekend, I was reading the rubbish Nyako was saying, accusing the military of being responsible for the killings being done by those criminals.

“I don’t blame Governor Nyako for saying all that rubbish. If those Governors had been suspended from office, as was the practice during the Obasanjo era, most of the problems we are facing in those states are coming from the governors there. They are contributing more to the problems we are facing,” the source added.

The Presidency, however, said it would consider all available options before settling on any definite decision.

Today’s meeting at the State House is expected to be delicate though, since all the APC Governors, including Nyako, Shettima and Gaidam themselves, would be in attendance.

Chairman of Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Ita Enang, on the other hand said the position of the Senate on the emergency rule is irrelevant for now since the President has not placed a request on the matter before it.

Enang told Daily Independent in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that the Senate cannot speak of any position on emergency rule now since the Federal Government has not made any formal presentation to the Senate regarding the situation of security in the troubled North East region of the country.

Enang stated that the Senate could only consider any request for an extension of emergency after a satisfactory appraisal of the situation so far in the zone to determine that an extension was desirable.

“The Senate, as far as I know, has no position now on whether or not the state of emergency in the North-East should be extended because Senate has not been presented with any formal request from government and neither has the government presented before us the progress on state of security in that area since the emergency rule was declared in the last one year.

“So the Senate cannot act in a vacuum. Until a request is presented to us and accompanied by the situation report there, the Senate will sit down and deliberate on it, look at the merit and demerit of a second extension before deciding whether to approve further extension or outrightly throw out the request.

“Therefore, Senate is waiting to hear from the President and his team,” Enang stated.

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