The National Assembly on Tuesday
ratified the emergency rule imposed on three northern sates of Borno, Yobe and
Adamawa with the two chambers attaching conditions to their approvals.
While the Senate sought a code of
conduct for the military during the emergency rule, among others, the House of
Representatives said any order issued by President Goodluck Jonathan during the
period must be approved by the National Assembly within seven days else it
becomes a nullity.
The Senate said the Federal
Government must ensure adequate funding of the operations in the state; troops
must be given a code of conduct to guard against human rights abuse and that
relief materials must be sent to the three states.
It also said that all democratic
structures in the three states must not be tampered with.
The upper chamber of the National
Assembly also urged the President not to foreclose the option of dialogue with
the Boko Haram sect.
It stated that the “carrot and stick”
approach should be adopted.
The Senate reached its decisions
after meeting in closed session, which was attended by 100 senators. The
Senate has 109 members.
After the closed session, senators
through a voice vote approved the proclamation of a state of emergency in the
states, without any dissension.
President of the Senate, David Mark,
while reporting proceedings from the closed session, said, “We want to
emphasise, in fact, and very emphatically, that all democratic structures must
be left in place and must be allowed to operate fully and actively; and they
must also be involved in all the efforts that the Federal Government is putting
up to bring this ugly situation to an end.
“We also would like to emphasise that
the armed forces are issued a proper code of conduct where they will be humane;
they will be benevolent and to make sure that all citizens are treated with
utmost respect so that they do not lose their respect as human beings.”
Mark further said that the Senate was
conscious of the fact that the Federal Government took the step as a last
resort.
He, however, urged the government to
ensure the involvement of the amnesty committee in efforts to bring an end to
the Boko Haram insurgency.
According to him, this should ensure
that at the end of the day government can concentrate on efforts to win the
minds and hearts of the people in all the affected states.
The House asked the Federal
Government to compensate all victims of terrorism in the country as it enforced
the emergency rule.
In an amendment that appeared to
limit Jonathan’s powers, the House said that the emergency rule should be
administered by the governors of the affected states and not the President or
“any person designated or authorised to act on his behalf.”
The House stated categorically that
the compensation should start ahead of the emergency rule or as the rule was
being implemented.
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