DESCRIBING the demand as self-serving and inimical to the progress of the country, the Nigerian Governors Forum
rose on Monday to state its opposition to the demand for the imposition of emergency rule in the troubled northern states of Nigeria.
This was according to a statement signed by the body’s chairman, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of River State.
The statement called on the President Goodluck Jonathan-led federal government to resist declaring emergency rule in the region as such an action will only worsen an already dire situation.
“These requests are being made by people who do not wish our country well and who are bent on plunging the country into a deeper crisis,” the statement read.
Violence has escalated in various flashpoints of the north in recent weeks, peaking with last week’s murder of several dozen security personnel that included policemen and, according to reports, men of the Department of State Security, DSS in Nassarawa State.
Prior to the Nassarawa incident, weeks of intense clashes between delegated security personnel in and around the border town of Baga continue to resort in military and civilian casualties, leaving many residents of the area displaced.
The government agency responsible for tackling emergency situations in Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency, had said in a release earlier last week that many of the residents of the town of Baga had remained in the forests where many of them had fled during the intense battle between government security personnel and elements of the murderous extremist group, Boko Haram.
President Jonathan had to cut short his tour of southern Africa where he was to be hosted in Namibia after departing South Africa for the same event.
According to presidential media advisor Reuben Abati, President Jonathan returned to Nigeria to personally oversee the management of the security situation.