Pat Stevens & Matilda Omonaiye/
The federal government yesterday said it is considering the possibilty of declaring a state of emergency in Anambra State ahead of the November 6 governorship election.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, disclose this to State House reporters after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Unknown gunmen alleged to be members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have been killing and maiming people, especially security agents, and also destroying public and private property in all the southeastern states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo.
IPOB fighters have also been enforcing a sit-at-home and directing banks and government offices to remove the national flag from their premises.
According to the minister, the government would take proactive measures to ensure that the democratic order was kept safe (in Anambra).
He said, “When our national security is attacked and the sanctity of our constitutionally guaranteed democracy is threatened, no possibility is ruled out.
“As a government, we have a responsibility to ensure the sustenance of our democratic order. As a government, we have a responsibility to provide security to life and property.
“So, within the context of these constitutional obligations, of the government or the desire to establish democratic norms and order, there is no possibility that is ruled out.
“So, what I am saying in essence, no possibility is out ruled by the government in terms of ensuring the sanctity of our democratic order, in terms of ensuring that our election in Anambra holds and you cannot out rule possibilities inclusive of the possibility of a declaration of a 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.
“So, our position as a government is that these elections are going to hold and necessary security in terms of democratic order must certainly prevail for this election,” he said.
The Anambra State government however described the minister’s statement as confirmation of the fear of Nigerians that politicians outside Anambra State in collaboration with their local minions were behind the recent spate of killings in the state to scare the people from coming out to vote.
The state government’s reaction was contained in a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr Don Adinuba.
According to him, what the minister said was a strong indictment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
“It seems that since these politicians have proved unable to intimidate the Anambra people from coming out to participate in the election, they have resolved to impose an emergency rule on the state.
“Not up to 15 persons have lost their lives since the new spectre of violence in the state. For a state that has for the past seven years enjoyed the well-deserved reputation of being Nigeria’s safest and most peaceful state, this number is pretty high.
“But it is absolutely not even a fraction of the casualties the nation has seen in places like Borno, Zamfara, Katsina, Benue, Plateau, Yobe, Niger, Adamawa, Taraba, and others where terrorists have not only killed several thousands of civilians but also successfully attacked military formations and slaughtered soldiers and other security officers,” he said.
Similarly, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which is the ruling party in Anambra, has urged the federal government not to toy with the idea of declaring a state emergency in the state.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Tex Okechukwu, said in a statement last night that the threat was uncalled for because Anambra State had ranked as the most peaceful state in Nigeria for seven years.
“The rationale behind planning to declare a state of emergency in Anambra State is questionable with less than one month to the governorship election when it (federal government) was yet to do the same in worse states such as Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, Niger and Nasarawa,” Okechukwu said.
He urged the federal government to look inwards and unmask those fermenting trouble in the state, instead of making a decision that would cause more harm than good to the nation’s democracy.
The leading opposition PDP also cautioned the APC-led federal government to ignore contemplation of imposing a state of emergency in Anambra State ahead of the November 6 governorship election.
The PDP, through its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it held the reported move to foist an emergency rule in Anambra State was a ploy by the APC-led government to suppress the people, manipulate the process and rig the governorship election for the APC and its candidate.
Ologbondiyan said the PDP demanded that the APC and its administration should come clean on their roles in the sudden rise in insecurity in Anambra State ahead of the election.
“This demand is predicated on apprehensions in the public space that the spate of insecurity in Anambra is contrived to heighten tension in the state to derail the democratic process to the advantage of the APC,” it said.
During the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Governor Joshua Dariye was removed in May 2004 and a military administrator deployed to superintend the affairs of Plateau State.
Also, in October 2006, Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Ekiti State following what he described as the ‘unconstitutional’ impeachment of Governor Ayodele Fayose.
However, when President Goodluck Jonathan announced the declaration of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States on May 14, 2013, he allowed the governors, their deputies and the House of Assemblies to continue to function.
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