Emergency rule: ACN accuses Jonathan of deception

Action Congress of Nigeria has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of engaging in deceit by saying the democratic structures in the states where he has declared a state of emergency would be kept intact. The party said the President had “in fact grabbed power and castrated democracy” in the states.

In a statement in Kaduna on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party quoted from the President’s speech to the nation on May 14, thus: ‘’The details of this Proclamation will be transmitted to the National Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. But in the meantime, let me make it clear that within the purview of this Proclamation, the Governors and other political officeholders in the affected states will continue to discharge their constitutional responsibilities.’’

ACN said, “According to the gazette published by the Federal Government on the declaration, it is shown that the President has virtually eviscerated the democratic structure and stripped the political officeholders of their constitutional responsibilities, thereby reversing the assurance he gave in his speech on the declaration.”

ACN also warned that unless such “despotic tendency” was checked, “nothing would prevent the President, in the name of the ongoing fight against Boko Haram, from extending this power grab to other states that catch his fancy.”

It addd, “This is dangerous and must be checked, in the interest of our democracy.”

The party said it had been vindicated for not only rejecting the proclamation, but for asking the National Assembly to study the proclamation well before approving it.

The statement read in part, “Here is what we said in our statement of May 16, ‘Truly understanding the proclamation will enable them to make an informed decision when the issue is brought before them.’

“We also said the state of emergency, which is essentially martial law, ‘has castrated democracy in the affected states, even though the democratic structures have been left largely intact’. Our warnings have now turned out to be prescient, a departure from the mass hysteria that greeted the declaration, a departure from the failure of all those who should have seriously scrutinised the declaration.

“A nation that is justifiably angry over the senseless Boko Haram killings, but inexplicably overly exuberant at a time that calls for sober reflection simply failed to see the booby traps in the state of emergency declaration. Predictably ever-acquiescing Senate went ahead to approve the declaration even before reading its provisions!”