House Of Reps Deffers Approval Of Proposed Extension Of State Of The Emergency In 3 States.

The House of Representatives Wednesday deferred approval of the proposed extension of the state of emergency declared in three North Eastern States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe by another six months. Meanwhile, the House has elected to be briefed by the service chiefs on the state of security in the affected states before taking any decision. The House took the resolution after a long debate session. House Leader, Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola (PDP, Oyo), had in a motion on the need to approve an extension of the emergency in the affected states advanced reasons why it should be approved. In his contribution, the Leader of the Borno Caucus, Hon. Muhammad Monguno (APC, Bornu), told the House that while they may not be averse to extension of the emergency rule in Borno, it is important for the Federal Government to adequately fund and motivate the military because, so far, the state of emergency has failed to yield the desired results. He said: One year of emergency rule has failed woefully due to the poor equipment of our military who are always left helpless to challenge any attack by Boko Haram. 'There was a time insurgents attacked a town and the Commander asked his men to launch a counter-attack and they refused, saying they would not be led to their early graves because they didnt have the necessary equipment to face the fire power of Boko Haram. Also supporting the motion, Hon. Tits Ganama (Borno), said If the emergency rule is not extended, what signal would we be sending to the International community who have come in to show solidarity with us in this trying time Chairman, Committee on Defence, Hon. Bashir Adamu (PDP, Jigawa), told the House that the Defence budget since 2011 has never gone up to 50 per cent implementation. A situation where less than N150 billion would be released out of over N300 billion of the budget would not help achieve anything for the nation.Kicking against the extension of emergency, Hon. Goni Bukar Lawal (APC,Yobe) reeled out statistics of casualties recorded in Yobe under the emergency rule as he explained why they are opposed to any extension.The emergency rule has only succeeded in breeding more terrorism in Yobe State, he said. He gave instances of the killing of students in a Unity school in Buni Yadi.A teacher was explaining to the governor how the attack took place and how the military behaved, the Commander asked him to keep quiet or be labelled a Boko Haram member right in our presence, and I challenged him to do that.Just yesterday, there was an information that Boko Haram were coming to attack but the military refused to go there. It was the civilian JTF who mobilised themselves to confront the Boko Haram and killed over 200 insurgents as well as seized and burnt over 70 motorbikes and two Hilux Jeeps. They refused to hand the captured ones over to the military due past experiences of them being released by JTF, he said. Hon. Emmanuel Jime (APC, Benue) and Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos) anchored their opposition on legal and constitutional provision empowering the President to deploy the military in crisis situations without declaring a state of emergency. Jime asked:Has a state solved any incidence of insurgency anywhere in the world? adding the Americans have been fighting terrorism since 2001 as well as Mali. There is a faulty approach that has been applied in this emergency rule. Is there an alternative to this, and I say yes. The Anti Terrorism Act is adequate enough to allow the President fight terrorism without coming to the National Assembly for approval for a state of emergency because its not necessary in this caseThe Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, cited Section 218 of the constitution that empowers the President to deploy and determine the operational use of the armed forces in ways necessary. â€œIf by self admission, the President in his letter has said emergency rule has not abated the crisis and that casualty rates are on the increase, then what reasons should he advance to justify any extension he queried.The Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, in reserving ruling on the matter urged members to exercise patience till Thursday after meeting with service chiefs in respect of a resolution asking for a briefing from the Joint Service Chiefs on the situation with the abducted Chibok girls.