President Jonathan deceiving Nigerians on state of emergency – ACN

[PeoplesDaily]

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of engaging in total deceit by saying the democratic structure in the states where he has declared a state of emergency will be kept intact, when in fact he has grabbed power in the states and castrated democracy there. In a statement issued in Kaduna on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the gazette published by the Federal Government on the declaration showed that the President has virtually eviscerated the democratic structure and stripped the political office holders of their constitutional responsibilities, thereby reversing the assurance he gave in his speech on the declaration.

ACN also warned that unless this despotic tendency is checked, nothing prevents the President, in the name of the ongoing fight against Boko Haram, from extending this power grab to other states that catch his fancy.

"This is dangerous and must be checked, in the interest of our democracy," the party said. ACN said that in accordance with the gazette, the Governors and Local Government Chairmen in the states under the state of emergency can only rule under the control of the President or anyone he so designates; the President is allowed to hold state funds; while the House of Assembly is now only a rubber stamp, as any order made under the emergency is deemed to be a law enacted by House.

"We also said that the state of emergency, which is essentially martial law, 'has castrated democracy in the affected states, even though the democratic structures have been left largely intact'.Our warnings have now turned out to be prescient, a departure from the mass hysteria that greeted the declaration, a departure from the failure of all those who should have seriously scrutinized the declaration.

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