The Security Council Meeting scheduled for Wednesday would consider suspending the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, with a view to imposing total emergency rule. This would entail the suspension of all democratic structures in the affected states, should the idea sail through, according to a story this morning in LEADERSHIP.

Adamawa is governed by retired Admiral Murtala Nyako, Borno by Alhaji Kashim Shettima and Yobe by Alhaji Ibrahim Geidam. The three states are in Nigeria’s axis of terrorism, parts of which have been largely rendered ungovernable by Boko Haram sect.

“Officially, the emergency rule ended at the weekend, but the military authorities have asked President Goodluck Jonathan to extend it, since the war against the insurgency is far from over,” reports LEADERSHIP.

The paper quotes a top-ranking officer in the military as saying that the security chiefs had indicted some top politicians and elite in the North-East for sabotaging the ongoing operations against the insurgents and wanted the governors and Houses of Assembly in the affected states suspended while the operations lasted.

“The politicians and elite, including the governors in those states, are working against our programme; their unguarded utterances are daring the insurgents. They seem to have known the agenda of the insurgents and they are always ready to defend them. For example, whenever these criminals attack, killing innocent people, these politicians would blame us and whenever we are able to locate their hideouts and smoke them out, they would be out accusing us of killing innocent Nigerians. This is why some of us are of the opinion that suspending them while the emergency rule lasts is the best option,” the officer was quoted as saying.

Speaking further, the officer accused Governors Shettima and Nyako, as well as a serving senator, of being part of the alleged sabotage. His words:

“These politicians are making our job difficult, you don’t even know on whose side they are. But from all indications, they are not supporting our operations. One of the governors the other time said the insurgents were better armed than our troops. Just this weekend, I was reading the rubbish Nyako was saying, accusing the military of being responsible for the killings being done by those criminals.

“I don’t blame Governor Nyako for saying all that rubbish. If those governors had been suspended from office, as was the practice during the Obasanjo era; most of the problems we are facing in those states are coming from the governors there. They are contributing more to the problems we are facing.”

A Presidency source is quoted as saying: “It is true some are calling for the suspension of the governors and the Houses of Assembly in the three states, but that is not the only option or suggestion, we still have others. For example, some are calling for the full implementation of the Anti-Terrorism Act and if that is accepted, the democratic structures remain. If I may let you know, President Jonathan wants them be (sic). The problem is some of their activities that are not helping the counter-insurgent operations and I think we could still manage it.

“To suspend these people may not be a way out, because if they could be working at cross purposes while they are still in office, you can imagine the havoc they could do while on suspension. But the ideal thing is for the counter-insurgent operation to be done with full co-operation of all the stakeholders, irrespective of their political and religious persuasions.”

Indicting Senator Ahmed Zannah from Borno State, another military officer said: “Senator Zannah often comes to the Defence Headquarters and each time he comes, the aftermath is always with one controversy or the other. But our people in his home state are waiting for him to explain some coincidences that have to do with him.

“Two, each time he surfaces in Borno State, that is when the activities of the insurgents are heightened. Three, he seems to know more of the insurgents than we do. For example, he knows that some of their locations we said we have attacked are still intact. Four, why does his speech always betray him as somebody working for the insurgents and why has he never seen anything good in what we are doing?”

•Photo: Governor Nyako, seeing here welcoming Brig.-Gen. Chris Olubolade and a delegation from Defence Headquarters to Adamawa State, may soon have to hand over, perhaps to a serving or retired military officer, if full emergency rule is imposed on the state.

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