State of Emergency: Yakassai, Tofa urge caution

[Mirror]

Two prominent Northern leaders, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai and Alhaji Bashir Tofa, have reacted to the declaration of state of emergency in three states in the North by saying Nigerians are watching to see whether it would bring the needed peace to the region.

Tofa

President Goodluck Jonathan recently declared a state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States over increasing insurgent activities there. Both Yakassai and Tofa however said that Nigerians are waiting to see how the action will address the security problems in the affected states.

Yakassai, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Arewa Consultative Forum, who had earlier opposed the declaration of state of emergency on any of the northern states on account of the Boko Haram insurgency, said yesterday that "we pray this action will yield the desired result. We pray it will be the way out of this situation because nobody has been able to offer solutions to the problems raging in the three states. It is a bitter pill to swallow. Let us keep praying that this will be the way out."

Tofa, a former presidential candidate on the platform of the National Republican Convention (NRC), insisted that the state of emergency is not the right step.

"It is not the right thing to do. But since it has been declared, let us give it a chance and see how it works. We still need to keep praying for the peace of this country," he said

National Mirror