State Of Emergency And What People Are Saying

Since President Johnathan’s administration emerged in 2011, his decision to declare a state of emergency in the three Northern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe following series of attacks on these states by the Boko Haram sect could be said to have received a massive applause from Nigerians.
Despite the fact that some are saying that it was an overdue decision which he supposed to have taken since, others still argue that the normal modalities for taking such decision were not properly followed. SATURDAY VANGUARD  conducted an opinion survey to know what people felt on it.
It is the best decision ever taken so far by Mr. president— Agulu Ogba

Troops getting ready

Yes, to me, it is now that the president has taken a very bold step towards giving a stop to these insurgents. This decision supposed to have been taken by the president as far back as 2010 when this sect started gathering much power so that a good fight would have been given to them.

But still, nothing serious was done until now. There is still possibilities of the government taking charge of this menace. It is a very commendable and a bold step from the federal government. What I am advising the government is that, there should be no going back on this.


They should try as much as possible to get to the root of it and ensure that peace is restored to these states. What I am afraid of is, in cases like this, most innocent citizens are mostly wounded. He should also make sure that such thing didn’t happen like that. I am strongly in support of this move by the president.

I don’t think he followed due process——-Okon Akpan
Well, for the president to take this decision, it is right. But my question is this, did he consult the people  before going for this? To me, I don’t think this is a proper state of emergency.

If it a full state of emergency, all government functionaries at all levels in the affected states should be entirely suspended. But I don’t think that is the case in these affected states.

There are supposed to be an appointed military administrators who take charge of the state until the duration of the state of emergency that would enable the military to take proper charge and execute their work properly.

I think a revisit should be made to the proclamation and the proper method of declaring such state of emergency followed . I must also complement the federal government for such decision but, what ought to be done, ought to be done well. President Jonathan should appoint administrators to ensure a proper execution of the state of emergency in these states.

Why are they releasing the arrested insurgents?—— Anthony Mario
While we are applauding the president for the state of emergency and the arrest of these insurgents, why are they releasing the arrested ones? Is it part of the ways of declaring a state of emergency? I think this government is not serious. If they want to declare a state of emergency, they should do that properly. Why are they behaving as if they are regretting to do that.

I heard over the news that they are releasing arrested members of the deadly sect, why? Or are they not sure if they are members? And since that release, there have been controversies as to who ordered the arrest.

They should tell us, who asked them to make those releases. This is my own side of the story.

To Yinka Olugbodi, a team conflict resolution expert , the state of emergency  is a welcome development  to bring normalcy back to the immediate areas and the country. According to him,

“ Its the right step where all conflict resolution techniques have failed. Secondly, I also think the state of emergency gives the government what I will call authority boldness and incredibility- meaning the government is not shy in enforcing law and order as it was the case before now” he added

“The innocent citizens have been suffering the brunt for the insurgent groups for months and as a truth every military action has a collateral damage factor, that is why it should always be the last means of conflict resolutions.

This particular situation is  unusual one in the sense that one party is not ready for dialogue and there is no basis for negotiation. Dialogue is always a better option but in this situation, something had to be done.

Salaudeen Oridare, social commentator and activist is of the opinion the governors of the three states should have been ask by the President to step down if the emergency is not politically multivated.

“Government could have remove the governors before the declaration of the state of emergency in the state ,after all they were helpless when the insurgent group were terorising the Citizens of the state, making it ungovernable for them.”

Tolani Owolabi a social commentator and a civil servant however opines that the emergency is long over due like every other right thinking and patriotic Nigerian, I think the decision was even long overdue, I noticed that since that decision was taken, we’ve not heard of any bombing which happened. To this extent, I think it is a great  gain for us as a Nation collectively”.



Source: Vanguard