Five months into the declaration of a state of emergency in 15 LGAs spread in four states of the federation, the move has failed to yield the expected results, as residents of the affected areas groan under strict military direction and untold economic hardship arising from the withholding of their allocations while bombings continue unabated in most of the places, thereby defeating the purpose of the sanction. Abu Nmodu, Minna;? Achor Abimeje, Jos and? Sunny Nwankwo, Maiduguri and RUTH CHOJI, Abuja report.
“This is a worrisome development”. That is how one resident of Maiduguri Metropolis described the current restriction of movement imposed on the town by the federal government some five months ago in a desperate bid to curb the excesses of the Boko Haram sect that has been killing and maiming people in recent months in the city.
In the wake of the unrestrained attacks on many parts of the north, President Goodluck Jonathan in December 2011 slammed the 15 LGAs spread in four states of Yobe, Borno, Plateau and Niger with a state of emergency and went ahead to freeze their monthly allocations worth over N15 billion.
The local government areas are: Jos North, Jos South, Barkin-Ladi and Riyom in Plateau; Maiduguri Metropolitan, Ngala-Bama, Biu and Jere in Borno; Damaturu, Geidam, Potiskum, Gujba and Bade in Yobe; and Suleja, Niger State.
The punitive action has not only brought about untold hardship on the part of the people of the affected local councils but has also exposed them to the ruthlessness of soldiers, who have been deployed in large numbers to keep the peace in those places. In placing the armed men in the areas, President Goodluck Jonathan was silent on how long they would keep vigil in the flashpoints and did not also say when the frozen accounts of the councils would be released.
Although the heavy presence of soldiers in places like Potiskum, Maiduguri and Jos has not halted the spate of killings, the residents have come face-to-face with soldiers’ brutality and the effect of non-release of their monthly allocations for their operations.
Like a military junta that respects only the orders of its maximum leader, the Jonathan administration has rejected all entreaties to release the withheld funds to the affected councils to mitigate the suffering of the residents. At the height of complaints by the victims, the Senate moved a resolution authorizing the president to defreeze the money but it also fell on deaf ears.
The areas affected by the emergency law have since been taken over by soldiers, who now rule over them as conquered territories.
They subject the residents as well as passersby to their whims and caprices, torturing those who dare to disobey them as common criminals. The jeremiads emanating from these states are as discomforting as being at the warfront: one’s life is surrendered to uncertainty, where fear and pains dominate the most part of the day.
In Borno State for instance, the reason for setting up the JTF to control the spread of attacks appears to have been defeated given the rise and rise of violence even with the presence of soldiers at every point in the capital. In fact, the level of violence has since risen with more killed and property destroyed in the area.
The sect has become so bold that hardly does a day pass without one form of attack or the other with heavy casualty figures in the city.? Many residents of Borno, who are not finding the situation funny, have been complaining about the deployment of soldiers in the state without them being able to curtail the level of killings by the sect.
The residents have also not been comfortable with the dusk-to-dawn curfew slammed on the town by the government as part of the security measures to keep the evil men at bay. That singular action, is also giving the people sleepless nights because their movements have been seriously restricted and their business thrown into jeopardy.
Borno State, whose motto is “Home of Peace”, appears to be the worst hit by the volleys of attacks. The frequent attacks on churches by the sect have also changed the perception that the Boko Haram onslaught was targeted at both Muslims and Christians.
A Maiduguri-based legal practitioner, Mr. A. Bulama ,? has decried the imposition of the emergency rule on the local government area instead of the state capital, saying that the purpose had been defeated.
“I have never heard that a state of emergency has ever been declared on a local government. To me, it does not make sense at all. Now, has the imposition of the state of emergency on a few local governments in the state stopped the gunmen from attacking and killing?” he asked.
But a teacher with one of the prestigious private schools in Maiduguri, Mr.ChineduUkadukwu, disagreed with Bulama, arguing that the state of emergency had brought some law and order to the city. Ukadukwu said that without the presence of the soldiers, the sect would have overrun the town before now.
“Though not much has been achieved yet in terms of curbing the menace of the Boko Haram sect, the JTF’s presence has brought about a sense of safety particularly on the part of the non-indigenes,” the teacher pointed out.
A staff? from one of the affected local governments in the state, Mr.? BalaUsman lamented that he had been borrowing money to feed his family since the local government funds had not been released in the last five months.
“Imagine me borrowing to enable me feed my family whereas I am working, it is terrible,” Usman said.
In Niger State, the emergency rule was slammed on Suleja following two bomb attacks on Madalla on Christmas Day and an earlier one in the city close to the federal capital territory. But the law has succeeded somehow in curtailing the excesses of lawless men there.
If not for anything, the imposition of emergency has given the security agencies the opportunity to rid Suleja of gunmen and other criminals, who have been hiding and committing atrocities in the suburb.
That much can be attested to by many, who can now sleep with their two eyes closed in an area that hitherto a hideout for criminals, who raided and looted their targets at will.
The heavy presence of security personnel in the town following the declaration of emergency rule in the LGA, has forced many of the elements to flee but the ordinary city dweller had come under the full weight of the military might, who treat them as though they are captives of war.
“Sometimes the soldiers would deliberately delay motorists for no just cause for hours and by the time you reach office is almost noon and you can no longer do any serious thing for the day,” a civil servant in the state, lamented.
“We agree that there should be increased security in the town because of what Suleja faced last year but innocent people have been unduly harassed in the process as if they are not human beings who should be protected by the government of this country.
“You journalists should help us because this oppression can push people not to have sympathy for government’s genuine intention because these soldiers are almost a problem like those breaching security too,” the resident said.
Beyond the harassment of the natives, the emergency rule has also affected the running of the Suleja LGA and the people are languishing away in poverty and hardship like their counterparts in other states.
The financial burden of the council has become so biting that the state commissioner for LG, Alhaji Yusuf GarbaTagwai, has appealed to the federal government to release the withheld funds so as reduce the plight of the people.
“I am pleading with the federal government to release the Suleja fund that has been withheld for the past few months. Our people are suffering,” the commissioner, pleaded.
The dire consequences of a state of emergency which have afflicted other councils and their residents have also played out in the four local government areas of Plateau State, where the punitive measure was also slammed by the government.
Soldiers, police and other plain-clothed personnel are on the prowl in the four LGAs that emergency rule was slammed and are frisking everyone to the pants in order to fish out the bad elements in their midst.
But in spite of that people are still being killed in their numbers almost on a daily basis.
Last week, no fewer than ten Berom villages were attacked and over 300 families displaced by the invaders. The victims are Tahoss, Bangai, Sopp, AngwaWerem, Dajol, Sho, Dung, Bashit, Fan, Rwa and Gwom villages.
Residents of the attacked villages have fled their homes and are taking refuse at police stations and primary schools in Riyom, the council headquarters.
The commissioner for local government in the state, Dr. Paul Wai, has already cried out for the release of the money so as to end the suffering of his people but no help appears to be coming his direction.
The chairman of BarkinLadi Local Government Council, Hon. Emmanuel Loman, lamented that the financial situation of the council was becoming embarrassing as they could not pay salaries or carry out its obligations to the people.
Plateau state legislators last week deliberated on the emergency situation in the state and resolved to send a delegation to Abuja to find out why their funds had been withheld in the wake of the emergency rule declaration by the President.
The Majority Leader Hon. Gyang Fulani representing Barkin Ladi State Constituency, who moved the motion, said it was wrong to withhold the funds of the local councils in the name of emergency rule.
“When President Goodluck Jonathan declared the emergency, he did not dissolve democratic structures in the affected councils. So, why should a democratic government be starved of its statutory funds?” he asked angrily.
The anger and frustrations of the people of the 15 LGAs notwithstanding, the government appears to have made up its mind to push ahead with the enforcement of its stringent security and austerity measures to force the natives of the area to see the difference between peace and war time.
But it is not clear if they have learnt any lesson from the imposition of the emergency rule and the freezing of their monthly source of revenue by the Presidency.
But while the people have been exposed to untold hardship by the stubbornness of the government, the administration itself must be ready to apply the brakes if the antidotes against Boko Haram onslaught are not just working.
Turning a blind eye to the plight of the people when the cities are burning with many innocent souls slaughtered with impunity in the presence of armed soldiers and policemen, amounts to abdication of the sacred obligation of the government to the citizens. But is the government listening at all?