…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.