EMERGENCY RULE: EXERCISE IN FUTILITY

VANGUARD, MAY 15, 2013 · BY PETER DURU

Elder statesman and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,  stalwart, Chief Abu King Shuluwa has described Tuesday’s declaration of state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states by President Goodluck Jonathan as an exercise in futility.

According to Shuluwa, it was a ‘’meaningless exercise that would serve no useful purpose.’’

Speaking in an interview with Vanguard in Makurdi, Shuluwa further queried the Federal Government’s decision to declare emergency in only three states, wondering why several other states like Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano among other hotbeds of the Boko Haram insurgency, were left out.

His words: “Jonathan has been deploying troops to these states in the past without declaring a state of emergency, of what purpose is the declaration now when the political leaders are still in charge.

”Moreover, he mentioned several states that had problems and he did not tell us why he picked only three states and left out the others. So as it is, what happens to Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano and the rest of them?

”The deployment of troops had been going on in these states, including Bayelsa where the Joint Task Force, JTF, has been operating without a state of emergency being declared.

”As far as I am concerned what he did has no meaning at all because it will serve no useful purpose given the nature of the declaration.”