President Jonathan requests for State Of Emergency extension in Nigeria’s north eastern states

President Goodluck Jonathan has sent a request to the National Assembly seeking an extension of the state of emergency in Nigeria’s north eastern states of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe by six months.

The request was read at Tuesday’s plenary on the floor of the Senate.

The emergency rule was first introduced in the three states in May 2013, before it was extended by another six months in November.


If the request is approved by the lawmakers, the state of emergency will continue till November.

The possible extension was part of the issues that was raised at the Presidential Media Chat held on May 4 and President Jonathan said that the government was considering the chances of extended the rule but that there was no decision on it yet.

He said the emergency rule was necessary for soldiers to effectively tackle the insurgency in the region, as it empowers the military to search houses suspected as harbour for terrorists without search warrant.

The terrorists have carried out series of attacks on villages, Churches and schools in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe.

Critics of the emergency rule have stated that it had not reduced or stopped the killings by the Boko Haram insurgent group in the state.

Thousands have been killed in various attacks by the sect, with an attack on Chibok, a village in Borno State, resulting in the abduction of over 200 girls. Nigeria has sought the support of the international community in the rescue effort to bring back the girls.

Britain, France, the US and Israel say they are willing to help the Nigerian government rescue the girls that were taken on April 14.

The abduction had triggered protest in different parts of the country and outside Nigeria, making a twitter hash tag ‘#BringBackOurGirls’ popular.