INSURGENCY: Presidency replies Clark on his advice to declare state of emergency

The Presidency has argued that declaring state of emergency in the troubled states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa will not solve the problem of insurgency in the states.

It said that a similar measure when employed by the previous government under President Goodluck Jonathan was unable to achieve anything.

The Presidency made this argument in reply to a statement by former Minister of Information and convener of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark.

Clark had on Monday said that if President Muhammadu Buhari wants to see insurgency in the troubled three states buried, that he should declare state of emergency in those states and appoint sole-administrators of military background as leaders of the three states.

However, speaking during an interview with Channels TV on Monday night, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, argued that Clark was wrong in his demand for state of emergency.

He said, “Under President (Goodluck) Jonathan, state of emergency was declared in those three states, what did it achieve? That is already telling you that it goes beyond a state of emergency.

“What should happen is bringing a decisive and final end to the insurgency raving those states and by the grace of God, we are almost there.”

Earlier, Adesina debunked the claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Buhari’s planned visit to Taraba and other states, where Nigerians have been victims of a killing spree, was an afterthought.

The PDP had in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Monday night, said, “It is alarming that Mr. President will consider visiting some of these states months after marauders, insurgents and bandits committed their havocs.

“Mr. President has been in the country and never thought it necessary to pay a condolence visit to any of these states until Nigerians raised the alarm alleging a manifest indifference on his part. It is even more pathetic that in Benue state, President Buhari summoned the leaders of the bereaved people to the Presidential villa, Abuja, rather than complying with the age-long tradition of Africans by visiting the bereaved.

READ ALSO: Real reason Buhari is going to Benue, Yobe, others is not to show sympathy, Fayose says

“No wonder many Nigerians have dismissed the planned visits of President Buhari to these states as cosmetic afterthought. Nigerians have already formed their opinion of him, and rightly so, as a President that has never shown them concern in their time of need.”

But denying all that, Adesina said that the President decided to embark on the visits after studying the reports of the delegations he sent to the states.

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