As Emergency Rule Ends This Week, Jonathan Is In Dilemma

This week the State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states will be expired and President Goodluck Jonathan is in a dilemma over what to do. The military wants the emergency rule to continue but the stakeholders in the north-east including governors don't want to extent it.

The emergency rule that has already been extended by six months would end on April 19. The governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, which are the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), and the political elites in Borno and Yobe believe that the emergency rule has failed to achieve the targeted goal. They have called for an end to it.

According to a serving general, if the troops were forced to withdraw, the insurgents may come back and launch fresh attacks on the people with a view to recovering the ground they have lost. He is sure that the governors and the so-called stakeholders are not helping their people by asking to withdraw the troops saying that "it would be suicidal for the masses living in those three states."

He added that probably next week there is going to be a meeting of the security chiefs where all the options would be presented to the commander-in-chief, President Goodluck Jonathan.

Last week at the 50th anniversary of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Marshal Amosu, explained that the complexity of the operations against terrorism, anywhere in the world, makes it difficult to predict when it could end. But he gave an assurance that the elusive peace would have been restored before February 2015 to ensure the general election holds there.

According to a competent source, President Jonathan is worried over how to handle the situation in a way that would guarantee the lives and property of the people in the three affected states. But the source assured that before the week runs out, there would be a way out.

"Although the emergency rule expires this weekend, the troops may still be asked to remain. The president would ask the National Assembly to extend the emergency rule and, until the National Assembly decides, the troops remain," the source said.
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