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communication lock-down is believed to have been slammed on the
violence-racked states of Borno, Yobe and parts of Adamawa on Thursday.A source in Damaturu, Yobe State capital, said it was shocking to learn that services of telecoms operators had been severely affected by the massive military build-up against the Boko Haram sect.
The source told the Nigerian Tribune that the whole of Yobe and Borno states were affected by the decision while Mubi, Hong, Mahia, Michika and Ka’alha are said to be affected in Adamawa State.
Militants have previously attacked mobile phone masts in the area in an effort to disrupt communications.
Senate debates emergency rule next week
The Senate will on Tueday, May 21, deliberate on the state of emergency which President Goodluck Jonathan declared in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states on Tuesday.
Senate President, David Mark, asked his colleagues during the plenary session on Thursday to be present next week, explaining that their attendance that day would be crucial to an urgent national decision to be taken.
Army curfew to curb Boko Haram
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s army has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew across the north-eastern state of Adamawa to curb attacks by militant Islamists.
It is the first area to fall under a curfew since a state of emergency was declared in three states.
A BBC reporter in Adamawa said the decision is surprising, as the security situation there is less serious than in Borno and Yobe states.
Nigerian military spokesman, Brig Gen Chris Olukolade said “every resource available” to the armed forces would be used in the operation against Boko Haram.
BBC Nigeria correspondent, Will Ross said this is a confirmation that fighter jets and helicopter gunships are likely to be deployed.
When asked whether this would not put civilians in harm’s way, Brig Gen Olukolade said the enemy bases to be targeted were in unpopulated areas close to Nigeria’s borders.
Ross noted that the hardest part of this campaign will be in urban areas like the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, where the Islamist militants are living among the civilian population.
The BBC’s Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar reports from Yola city that most people he spoke to felt the curfew was unnecessary and that it would merely disrupt their lives.
The reporter added that there is no sign of a huge military build-up in the city since President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in the three states.
In a related development, the Adamawa State Governor, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako has called on citizens of the state to remain calm and not to do anything that would be construed to be against the emergency.
Nyako pledged the continued maximum support to the Defence and security agencies operating in the state.
He also called on the people of the state to embark on special prayers to the Almighty to protect the people of the state from the adverse consequences of the emergency.
”Our children and young people should do that fervently as they stand to be greatest victims if things go wrong during the period of the emergency.What has been happening to their counterparts in our neighbouring states is enough lesson to them and to all of us”, he stressed
Nyako appealed to all to remain calm and to reduce outdoor activities to the barest minimum until the extent of the emergency rule is determined and prayed God to defend them against the evil few who want to have the children killed and maimed and the state devastated.
Prior to the new development, citizens have embarked on self censorship,as traders go to the shop and business places early and close early to their houses.
As at time of filing this report on Thursday,truck loads of Military personnel were seen in Yola and its environs while there has been military presence in Mubi,one of the black spots in Adamawa State.
Over 500-man counter Terrorism Squad arrives Borno
Fear gripped residents of Bullumkuttu ward in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital as over 500-man Counter Terrorism Squad riding in 11 buses and Hilux vehicles passed through the area and headed to the city centre, on Thursday.
A resident, Mallam Umar Saidu told Nigerian Tribune that, for the past two days since the pronouncement of the state of emergency, the number of security operatives that passed to the city centre had become scary.
“Our fears now is that, let them take charge of the city, so that, those sect members that they are going to chase out from their occupied territory did not run into the city to cause problem. We are happy, yet we are afraid because these boys are living within town as well and our prayers is that the innocent would not go with the wicked,” Umar told Nigerian Tribune.
According to him, the steps taken by the President to flush out the sect members is actually what the people want, but that nobody has the guts to speak evil of the sect members particularly when one is living in Borno State where they can come around and kill and also go free.
“The presence of the security men coming to town is giving people the confidence that they need to be bold to speak. Although fear has also kept people in their houses as only few people are coming out since the declaration of emergency rule, I want to believe that in the next few days people would get that confidence to come out,” he added.
DHQ deploys more troops
The Defence Headquarters is deploying additional troops from the Southern flanks of the Army to the three states where state of emergency was declared on Tuesday by the Federal Government.
The Director of Defence Information, Brig. General Chris Olukolade, who disclosed this to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja yesterday, said that more troops are being deployed from other divisions of the Nigerian Army in the Southern region.
According to him, more logistics are also being provided by the military authorities to back up the deployment.
The Defence Spokesman said that no amount of deployment of troops to the troubled areas would be too much until the terrorists are wiped out from that Northern flank.
He said that deployment has already commenced to all the border towns of the three states and that very soon the dividend of the operation will start manifesting.
Olukolade who could not disclose the number of troops so far deployed said that a sizeable number is already on ground and if need be, more will be sent to the area.
He said, “As I am telling you now, we are not only sending troops but they are heavily backed up with equipments that can stand the test of time when confronting the insurgency.”
“The entire Nigerian military is involved in this operation, including the air force,” defence spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade told AFP.
“Definitely, air strikes will be used when necessary,” he said.
A military source who requested anonymity told AFP that Nigerian forces “raided some terrorist camps in the Sambisa Game Reserve,” in northern Borno, early on Wednesday.
Zangina Kyarimi, who lives in the remote town of Marti in northern Borno towards the border with Chad, said that “large military teams” arrived late Wednesday.
“I saw dozens of military vans and trucks accompanied by tanks,” he said by phone from the town, which is considered a Boko Haram stronghold.
“We are afraid of what might happen in the coming days. We are thinking of leaving,” he said.
In Yobe state in the town of Gashua, scene of a deadly Boko Haram attack on April 26, a convoy of military personnel rolled through heading north to the Niger border, resident Musa Saminu said.
“Some of them went to the banks and asked them to close down as a precaution,” he told AFP.
US, UN react
From the United Nations and the United States’ reactions to the state of emergency declared by President Jonathan on Tuesday, there is an attempt by the international community to maintain a delicate balance between condemning terror and curtailing the use of state violence in response.
Empowered Newswire reported that other groups such as the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN and some US-based Nigerians are taking more categorical positions.
Late on Wednesday, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon in response to questions about the State of Emergency, said he remains “very concerned about the continued violence and the deteriorating security situation in north-eastern Nigeria, which poses a threat to national peace and security. “
The UN scribe even went further, calling “on all extremist groups to cease their attacks.”
But the Secretary-General reiterated his firm conviction “that no objective can ever justify such use of violence,” underscoring the need for “all concerned to fully respect human rights and to safeguard the lives of all Nigerians.”
From the United States government came, about the same time, an equally middle of the road assessment of the declaration.
Also in response to media inquiry the acting spokesperson of the US State Department, Mr. Patrick Ventrell said “the declaration of states of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states reflects the worsening cycle of violence in northern Nigeria.
He added that the US “remain deeply concerned about increasing insecurity in northern Nigeria and the potential threat it poses to stability in both Nigeria and the region.”
Furthermore the US government added that “the rising cycle of violence is affecting Nigerian citizens the most, with the number of civilian casualties increasing.”
And in a clear denunciation of terrorism in the country, Mr. Ventrell declared that the “United States condemns Boko Haram’s campaign of terror in the strongest terms and has worked to help Nigeria address the threat of terrorism.”
Jonathan in order —Reps
The House of Representatives on Thursday stated that it was too hasty to conclude that President Jonathan breached the Constitution on the declaration of emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States on Tuesday night without due process, saying that the leadership of the National Assembly was carried along in the processes that led to the declaration of emergency rule in the affected states.
The Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Victor Afam Ogene who stated this while fielding questions from newsmen noted that the President acted in good faith with the emergency rule.
He, however, said that “up till now, the president has not sent a letter to us on the state of emergency declared in the three states. We are aware that the president, before the declaration, interfaced with the leadership of the National Assembly.”
The deputy spokesperson for the House also said “the leadership of the National Assembly did suggest that it will give a wrong message if the governors were to go. And we all agreed that the government is one; while the National Assembly is there to make laws, the executive is there to implement them.”
To this end, Honourable Ogene said more of such cooperation would go a long way in developing the nation, saying “government is one.”
On the seeming delay in transmission of the state of emergency proclamation by the president to the National Assembly, Honourable Ogene said the executive arm of government might be trying to put necessary things in place, in accordance with the constitution of the country, adding that it was understandable, since all the arm of government were working for the best interest of the nation.
He, however, explained that the emergency rule would not in anyway affect the amnesty to Boko Haram and equally called on the members of the sect to embrace the amnesty.
He stressed that the House would continue to support moves that would bring peace to the country.
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