A Discourse Botched By Police Ambush

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There was already a lot of bad blood between the executive and the legislature when President Goodluck Jonathan requested the House of Representatives to approve his latest request for the extension of emergency rule in the three Northeast states that have been under the unbridled reign of Islamist insurgents. Despite the political differences, Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Waziri Tambuwal decided to recall members of the lower chamber from their adjournment. They all promptly responded on that day, last Thursday.

‘Caution Cordon’

The legislators and staff of the National Assembly braved the ensnaring security presence within the vicinity of the legislature to seek entrance. Policemen, plain cloth security operatives and all, screened each and every person going into the premises. Vehicles too were not spared. Everything was going on without hitch until Tambuwal’s chauffeur-driven vehicle appeared at the main entrance of the assembly.

Ordinarily, if it were the time he still had his security details, the Speaker would probably have entered the parliament building from behind, through an access gate the National Assembly shares with the Presidential Villa. But this was no ordinary day. And the Speaker’s only human shield was a motley group of colleagues who were with him. The access gate had been sealed by stern-looking security men, just as the gate was being manned by them.

Barricade and Teargas

After bouts of heave and push, shouting and heckling by the flustered legislators, who were disturbed that they and their principal were being deliberately shut out by the police, the Speaker walked into the precinct of the parliament. The remaining legislators had to ram and scale the 12.2ft gate. Still, it was not yet uhuru for them. As they walked towards the arcade with Tambuwal, the police shot canisters of teargas at them several times. But they marched on.

Executive Session

Many would have thought that with the treatment meted out to them, the legislators would abandon the job at hand. But once inside, they proceeded into the green chamber for an executive session. Before the session, an equally worried Senate President David Mark, who is chairman of the National Assembly, shoved amid heckling by some of the House members, to confer with Tambuwal for a few minutes. Thereafter, he departed the green chambers.

Once alone, members of the lower chamber began their debate on the president’s request for extension of the emergency rule. In a charged atmosphere, with members clearly very upset and certainly in no mood to discuss the matter extensively, Tambuwal appealed to them, saying what is at stake is a national issue. They didn’t want to listen to his pleading but he persisted, despite the fact that he had himself inhaled doses of the police teargas.

After securing their calm and consent, the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, moved a motion that under the provisions of section 14 (2) of the constitution, victims of the armed terror in the North-east states must be protected.

He argued, “Like we all know, our brothers and sisters in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno are constantly under attack, and it becomes important that as law abiding citizens we must come out to protect them, because the essence of governance is to protect the lives of the citizenry.”

Nonetheless, the other legislators were not ready to give the president the nod to extend the emergency rule. So, Ogor shifted gear in order for his motion to sail through. Citing section 33, which guarantees the rights to life to our citizens, he told the House that section 217 (2c) of the constitution gives the president some very exclusive powers “to use the Nigerian armed forces to take care of any insurrection and making sure that there is peace and orderliness in our country.”

Ogor later told journalists that sensing the landmine ahead if the issue of extension was made the kernel of the discourse, he quickly argued that “it behoves the president to invoke that particular section which gives him the powers to deploy the Nigerian armed forces to quell any issue of insurrection subject to an Act of the National Assembly.”

According to him, “But unfortunately for us as a party, there is no Act of the National Assembly that clearly spelt out the manner in which the president can deploy the armed forces to address the issue of insurrection. So for me, if you pick my own interpretation, the president can go ahead and keep our forces in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa to address the issue of insurrection.

“Section 8 of the Armed Forces Act which gives the president the powers of the operational use of the armed forces is very clear. Aproduct of section 218 of the constitution is also very clear. So with that, state of emergency or not, the battle continues. So the president still has this exclusivity.

“And when you look at this state of emergency, there is nothing that differentiates it from the ones we’ve had where all the democratic institutions are still in place. I would probably want to do some wrong interpretation, to say that there should be a total state of emergency in line with my interpreta- tion of sec 217 (2c) of the constitution.”

Ogor articulated his point, which was later adopted by the House.

After the session held behind closed doors, the House chairman on media and publicity, Hon. Zakari Mohammed (APC, Kwara), told journalists that they advised the president to exercise his prerogative as provided by Section 8 of the Armed Forces Act, which grants him the power to deploy troops to areas of conflicts.

Part 3 (8) of the Act provides, “(1) The President shall determine the operational use of the Armed Forces, but may, under general or special directives, delegate his responsibility for the day-to-day operational use

“(a) of the Armed Forces, to the Chief of Defence Staff; “(b) of the Army, to the Chief of Army Staff; “(c) of the Navy, to the Chief of Naval Staff; and “(d) of the Air Force, to the Chief of Air Staff.” It also specifies, “(2) It shall be the duty of the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff and the Chief of Air Staff, as the case may be, to comply with any directive given to them by the President under subsection (1) of this section.”

It further states, “(3) In this section, “operational use of the Armed Forces” includes the operational use of the Armed Forces in Nigeria for the purpose of maintaining and securing public safety and public order.”

According to Mohammed, the House did not extend the emergency rule as they “thought that the state of emergency is not yielding any result.” He expressed hope that governors of the states, the military, the Civilian JTF, hunters and all others currently involved in the efforts to curb the insurgency, will take advantage of the deployment to end the crisis.