Headline
Commissioner, Falana, Afenifere Fault Planned Move To Impose State Of Emergency In Anambra
…Perish Plans To Declare State Of Emergency In Anambra, PDP Tells Malami
The Anambra State Government and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, have faulted the planned move by the Federal Government to impose a state of emergency in the south-eastern state.
As part of measures to tackle the worsening insecurity in Anambra especially as the state holds a governorship election on November 6, the Federal Government had hinted at the possibility of invoking the emergency rule to tighten security.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, announced this on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
But the Anambra Government, through its Commissioner for Information, Don Adinuba has condemned the move, alleging that insecurity in the state is politically motivated.
“Since the renewed violence in Anambra State which we believe is politically motivated, not more than 15 persons have been killed. How many persons have died in Borno, Niger, Kaduna, Yobe, Zamfara, even Imo, which is APC-controlled; Ebonyi, which is APC-controlled?” he asked during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
The commissioner said the state has witnessed about 15 killings in the past few weeks, unlike some north-western and north-eastern states that are worst hit by banditry and terrorism.
Making reference to Borno, Niger, Kaduna, Yobe, and Zamfara which are controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the commissioner slammed the Minister of Justice for mulling a state of emergency in Anambra.
“Has anybody threatened emergency rule in any of these states? For the past seven years, Anambra has remained the safest, [and] most stable in Nigeria.
“We remain the only state in the whole country that, for the past seven years, has not experienced one single bank robbery; what is going on is politically motivated and the declaration by the honourable Attorney-General of the Federation is a confirmation,” the commissioner insisted.
“Nigerians are outraged by the threat by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.”
‘Illegal And Unconstitutional’
Falani, a human rights lawyer, has also described the move as illegal and unconstitutional.
According to him, Muhammadu Buhari’s administration “has just realised that the deployment of troops without the declaration of emergency rule in many states of the Federation is illegal and unconstitutional”.
He recalled that since 2015, President Buhari has imposed emergency rules in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Zamfara, Kaduna and the Katsina States by deploying members of the armed forces to assist the police in the restoration of law and order.
According to the senior lawyer, the President has adopted such extraordinary measures without seeking the approval of both chambers of the National Assembly.
“In other words, since the emergency rule imposed on the North East region by President Goodluck Jonathan expired by effluxion of time, President Buhari has not renewed or extended it,” he said via a statement on Wednesday.
“The National Assembly has not challenged the illegal emergency rule imposed without any declaration as stipulated by section 305 of the Constitution.
“Hence, the threat issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation is an attempt to return to constitutionalism with respect to the imposition of emergency rule in Anambra State and other states in the North-West, North-East and South-East regions where the Federal Government is waging a full-scale war against terrorists and the so-called gunmen.”
Falana insisted that nowhere in the Constitution has the President been vested with the power to remove the elected governor of a state and suspend democratic structures.
He explained that the governor of a state can only be removed by impeachment or resignation and not by imposition of emergency rule, adding that the tenure of legislators is four years in line with the provisions of the Constitution.
“Even though former President Olusegun Obasanjo removed two Governors via the imposition of emergency rule, the PDP-led Federal Government later jettisoned the illegal practice,” the lawyer maintained.
“Hence ex- Presidents Umaru Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan never used emergency rule to remove elected governors or suspend legislative houses and local government councils. Indeed, the Federal Government has since realised that it is unjust and immoral to remove a governor of a state since the president exclusively controls the armed forces, the police and other security agencies.
“To that extent, the Federal Government should drop the dangerous plan to remove the Governor of Anambra State and impose a Sole Administrator on the eve of the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the State.”
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned the President Muhammadu Buhari regime to desist from imposing a state of emergency in Anambra ahead of the state’s governorship election next month.
PDP spokesperson Kola Ologbodiyan in a statement on Wednesday insisted that the Buhari regime had the capacity to ensure peace before, during and after the election.
“The @OfficialPDPNig cautions the @OfficialAPCNg-led Federal Government to perish every contemplations of imposing a state of emergency in Anambra state ahead of the November 6 governorship election,” Mr Ologbodiyan in the statement said.
“The PDP insists that the Federal Government has the capacity to ensure peace in Anambra before, during and even after the election, if it so desired.We therefore invite the President @MBuhari -led @OfficialAPCNg Federal Government to be guided accordingly,” he added.
Elections have held in turbulent states of the federation, including Boko Haram ridden states of Borno and Yobe, in the recent past, without the declaration of a state of emergency by the federal government.
PDP’s statement comes shortly after Attorney-General Abubakar Malami threatened to declare a state of emergency before the state’s gubernatorial elections next month.
Mr Malami said insecurity has spiked across the state, the largest in Igbo-dominate South-East, in recent weeks and the administration will not allow hoodlums overtake constitutional order.
“No possibility is out ruled by government in terms of ensuring the sanctity of our democratic order, in terms of ensuring that our elections in Anambra holds, and you cannot out rule possibilities inclusive of the possibility of declaration or state of emergency where it is established, in essence, that there is a failure on the part of the state government to ensure the sanctity of security of lives, properties and democratic order?” Mr Malami told State House reporters shortly after the federal executive council sitting on Wednesday.
Anambra has witnessed heightened crisis in recent weeks, with daredevil gunmen wreaking havoc on state assets and individual.
Stakeholders in Anambra project, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had raised alarm over the upsurge in cases of violent attacks on individuals and government facilities in Anambra as the governorship election in the state draws closer.
The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to setting the power sector on the path of sustainability and bankability, by prioritising the different reforms being undertaken in the sector. This is critical to the economic growth and development of the nation.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu disclosed this on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Mission 300 Stakeholders Engagement meeting, held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, where he announced that the estimated investment required for the Mission 300 Compact is $32.8 billion, with $15.5 billion expected from the private sector. The Mission is to provide electricity to 300million unserved people in Africa.
He said the stakeholders meeting would provide an opportunity for them to align, strategize, and to build the partnerships needed to move from Nigeria Energy Compact, to concrete results, as he called on development partners, the private sector, philanthropic actors, the public sector, and the civil society organizations to rally around this mission.
“Mobilizing this level of financing will demand innovation, coordination, and a shared commitment.
“In this room today are many of the institutions and individuals who can help us shape the future of Nigeria’s energy sector. Let us take this opportunity to ask hard questions, identify the practical solutions, and develop actionable plans that will make universal access a reality not just in the policy space, but in the daily lives of our citizens by powering our hospitals, our schools, our industries, and our homes”, Adelabu said.
He announced the priorities of the government in power sector reforms to include “adressing the market liquidity issues and initiating required sector reforms”.
“Currently”, he added, “there’s a huge outstanding debt to the Power Generation companies in the form of unpaid government subsidies which stands at about ₦4trn as of December 2024. The Federal Government is already working out modalities to defray this obligation and to ensure that further obligations are not accrued going forward, the government is working on a plan to transition the sector to a fully cost-reflective regime while implementing targeted subsidies for the economically vulnerable citizens in the country.
“Improving our power generation through recovery of idle capacities and expanding energy mix to ensure energy security, and to dilute the power pool with cheaper and cleaner energy sources”.
Other areas he identified included “Expanding transmission infrastructure to deliver more power, ensuring stability of the national grid to put and end to several grid disturbances and collapses previously observed on the grid, and to further strengthen the coordination and management of the national grid.
“Ensuring viability and performance improvement of the distribution segment of the power sector through strategic programs like the Presidential Metering Initiative and the World Bank-funded Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP)”.
The Minister also said that the Power Ministry is pursuing increased renewable energy through its rural electrification and energy transition drive, to provide a reliable power supply to unserved and underserved communities.
Through its training institute, the Ministry is also working to improve human capital and local content development in the sector to reduce import dependence, stimulate jobs, and build a homegrown energy industry.
“I assure you”, he continued “that the Federal Government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is fully committed to this vision and through the Federal Ministry of Power, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, we will continue to champion reforms, promote innovation, and partner with all stakeholders to deliver a sustainable energy future”.
He expressed the appreciation of the Federal Government to the World Bank Group under the leadership of Mr Ajay Banga and the African Development Bank under the leadership of the out going Managing Director of the Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), and Sustainable Energy for All for taking on this mission to connect 300 million people across Africa to electricity by the year 2030 through the Mission 300 initiative, saying, “this ambition reflects our shared belief that energy access is a fundamental issue that must be urgently addressed to unlock economic potential of the continent”.
According to Adelabu, in January 2025 at the Dar es Salaam Africa Energy Summit, President Tinubu joined eleven other African Heads of State in endorsing the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration and formally committing to the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Mission 300.
“We presented our National Energy Compact, a bold statement of intent and ambition to fast-track access to both electricity and clean cooking for all Nigerians with the aim of achieving universal access by 2030 by increasing the rate of electricity access from 4 percent to 9 percent per annum and raising access to clean cooking from 22 percent to 25 percent per annum”, he said.
The Minister of Finance, Chief Wale Edun, who spoke through zoom from Brazil also said that the reforms the government was undertaking in the power sector were critical towards unlocking the full potentials of the economy as it would lead to job creation. He said the reforms have led to over 40 percent increase in power distribution in the first quarter of 2025.
Present at the meeting were the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Geoffrey Nnaji, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, the World Bank Officers, head of agencies in the Power Ministry, and partners of the sector.
During the plenary on Tuesday, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, clarified the Senate’s position, underpinning that the upper chamber has been diligent in attending to bills forwarded by the House.
Responding to recent claims that the Senate had failed to act on over 140 House-passed bills, including several sponsored by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, the Senate leader disclosed that the Senate considered no fewer than six concurrence bills just last week.
The Senate President said, “We cannot joke with concurrence bills from the House of Representatives, we are committed to working together in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. It takes two hands to clap.”
This reaction by the Senate leadership followed a slight tension experienced at the House of Representatives last week when members of the green chamber resolved to suspend further consideration of bills originating from the Senate, citing what it described as persistent delays in legislative concurrence from the red chamber.
But Bamidele, while presenting one of the bills from the House during plenary on Tuesday, explained that the Senate has remained consistent in processing concurrence bills in line with constitutional responsibilities.
He said, “For the record, we have been doing what we are supposed to do. Only last week, the Senate concurred on six bills from the House of Representatives. We know we have the principle of reciprocity that governs our operations, but this does not necessarily mean garbage in, garbage out.
“We have the duty, as the foremost democratic institution in the country, to exercise due diligence on the bills. We will continue to consider concurrence bills from the House of Representatives in the same way they considered our bills. We will ensure that it is given attention in overriding public interest. I just want to say this for the record.”
The leadership assured the public that the Senate remained committed to a productive and cooperative relationship with the House of Representatives, underscoring that legislative harmony is essential for national progress.
At the resumed hearing of the money laundering case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against the former governor, his counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, told the court that he had filed an application, dated 19th June, 2025 and filed on June 20, 2025.
“It seeks an order for the release of the 1st defendant/applicant’s international passport by the Registrar of the court to enable him to travel for medical attention,” he said.
The counsel said the application was predicated on 13 grounds in the face of the motion paper and supported by 22 paragraphs affidavit deposed to by Yahaya Bello himself.
The EFCC Counsel had filed a counter-affidavit, saying granting the request could delay further proceedings.
Daudu, SAN, in response to the prosecution team’s counter-affidavit, said the Defendant’s team had also filed a further affidavit of 20 paragraphs, filed on July 7, 2025, and deposed to by the applicant himself with two exhibits.
“Exhibits C is the Certified True Copy of the ruling of your lordship, admitting the defendant to bail and Exhibit D is the ruling of the Federal High Court also admitting him to bail.
“We adopt these documents in urging your lordship to grant our application,” he stated.
Responding to the Prosecution’s argument that the application was an abuse of court process in the sense that a similar application was filed at Federal High Court, Daudu argued that it could not be an abuse of court process.
He hinged his argument on the fact that it was the complainant that instituted the two separate charges in the separate courts.
“It will be a futile exercise to apply in one court and not to apply in the other court,” Daudu, SAN submitted.
The prosecution counsel, Chukwudi Enebele, SAN, while defending the EFCC’s counter-affidavit, said Yahaya Bello should have put his sureties on notice with regard to his application to travel out of the country.
According to him, the sureties need to decide whether they would want to continue to stand as sureties for him when he travels.
He added that by filing the same application at both the FCT High Court and Federal High Court, the Defendant’s Counsel were setting the courts on a collision course.
“If Federal High Court refuses that application and my lord grants it, it will make mockery of our Judicial system,” the EFCC lawyer argued.
Responding, Daudu SAN said, on the issue of suretyship, the sureties were already aware.
“We need not put them on notice,” he said.
“Finally, on the interpol matter, Daudu said that the issue of Interpol likely to arrest the applicant is a dead argument, the applicant having submitted himself for trial.
“He has never flouted your lordship’s order. They themselves have even forgotten about those red alerts,” the lawyer added, urging the court to grant the application.
After listening to both parties, Justice Anenih adjourned the case to July 17, 2025 for ruling.
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