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Clark writes Malami, seeks emergency rule in North-East

By Bridget Chiedu Onochie, Abuja
06 March 2018   |   3:07 am
An elder statesman and former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the North East.   In an open letter sent directly to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), Clark admonished the minister to advice Mr.…

Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN)

An elder statesman and former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the North East.
 
In an open letter sent directly to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), Clark admonished the minister to advice Mr. President to “declare a total state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states to enable the military clear the remnant of Boko Haram.”
 
According to him, any state of emergency genuinely declared by any government in the three states without suspending the civil administration is bound to fail. 

 
Clark said he decided to write an open letter, believing that it would get to Mr. President quicker, and receive his immediate attention than if it was routed through the normal process, which is usually slowed down by bureaucracy.
   
The letter read in part: “Recall that I addressed a similar letter to your predecessor, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) while in office in 2014, when the then President Goodluck Jonathan was about to declare a second state of emergency in the three northern states, and he was not ready to suspend the civilian administration in those three states. 
 
“I verily believed at that time and until this day, the first and second state of emergency declared by the Federal Government were not effective because they were not total, and the issue involved at the time were misunderstood and suspicious.
 
“Today, we are confronted with the remnant of Boko Haram moving in and out of Nigeria carrying out attacks and engaging in frequent suicide bombings. The Sambisa forest which had been the headquarters of Boko Haram has now been taken over by our gallant forces. But let me warn that the battle is not over yet unless the Federal Government takes an unprecedented drastic action to flush out the disturbing and periodic actions of the insurgents.
 
“I have had sleepless nights thinking about the recent easy abduction of over 110 innocent secondary school girls in Dapchi, Yobe State, while we are still lamenting and grieving over the abduction of the Chibok school girls in April 14th, 2014. 
 
“These have no doubt thrown a big challenge to the wonderful work being carried out by the military in terminating the insurgence from the North East of Nigeria. The military personnel compared with their predecessor in office have demonstrated their competence, courage, capability and patriotism. Nigerians congratulate them.”

According to the Ijaw leader, the present security situation in the country particularly, in the North East, where the insurgents are still challenging the territorial integrity of Nigeria, bombing and killing innocent citizens, is not acceptable.

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