Outrage greeted the Federal Government’s threat, on Wednesday, to declare state of emergency in Anambra State ahead of the November 6 governorship election, if the security situation in the state did not improve.
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, AGF, Abubakar Malami, SAN, stated this while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of the virtual Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
The minister’s threat drew the ire of stakeholders in the polity, including the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, the Middler Belt Forum, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, who all cautioned government against such an action.
However, the minister said the government has the responsibility to sustain the democratic order and will do the needful in terms of ensuring that the election is held.
His words: “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 properties.”
But the Federal Government’s threat elicited criticisms from a host of eminent persons, groups and senior lawyers.
It however, got the support of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, which urged the government to do whatever is required to retrieve the South-East region from the whims and caprices of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and other similar groups in the Diaspora.
National President of the Middle Belt Forum, MBF, Dr. Bitrus Pogu said the Federal Government’s threat to impose a state of emergency on Anambra State ahead of the governorship election is unacceptable and unconstitutional.
Elder statesman and First Republic Aviation Minister, Chief Mbazulike Amechi, said there is no justification for even thinking to do that in any part of the South-East.
According to him there is more violence in the northern states of Kaduna, Kastina, Niger, even in Bauchi, Zamfara, Benue and Plateau.
Asked if Federal Government can impose emergence rule in Anambra state, Mike Ozekhome, SAN said: “Why not, if the political actors in the state cannot behave themselves and conduct elections decently.
“Why are they turning Anambra State into a theatre of war and odeon of grisly blood? What mineral resources or humongous funds exist in the state that politicians must kill themselves and innocent people to reap?”
The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, rejected the Federal Government’s mulling over the possibility of declaring a state of emergency in Anambra, saying it would be unacceptable and unfair.
CAN’s Director, National Issues and Social Welfare, Bishop Stephen Adegbite, in an exclusive chat with Vanguard, said: “To the church in Nigeria, the tension in the land is a product of the collective failure of our leaders, both past and present.
