Reps approve extension of Emergency Rule in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe,…..Election may not hold in the affected states
Adetokunbo Fakeye
Members of the House of Representatives, Thursday gave a nod to President Goodluck Jonathan to extend the Emergency Rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe after a 3 hour closed door session with service chiefs. Also, the service chiefs made it clear that no election can hold in the three troubled states as Nigeria was at war. Rt. Hon. Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal who presided at Thursday’s plenary before putting the issue to a voice vote said,”we agreed yesterday,Wednesday, to vote on the extension of emergency rule and after an exhaustive meeting with the service chiefs on their operations so far we agreed to vote on it. When he eventually put it to a voice, a thunderous ay carried the day. Briefing journalists after the plenary on the outcome of members meeting, Chairman of House Committee on Media, Rep Zakari Mohammed confirmed that the service chiefs were able to convince lawmakers to extend the emergency period. He stated that the extension was needed for the military to “consolidate on the progress made during the last extension of emergency rule, especially now that there is going to be foreign assistance.” On the allegation that soldiers’ allowances and funds for the procurement of equipment were diverted to private pockets, he said the service chiefs denied that the soldiers were short-changed or were denied welfare in the battlefront.
