Group calls for national state of emergency

The Afenifere Renewal group, a pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, has urged the Federal Government to declare a “state of national emergency” instead of the one recently declared by the presidency in three northern states.
In a statement made available to Saturday PUNCH on Friday, the group’s Publicity Secretary, Kunle Famoriyo, said the state of emergency rule that was now being observed in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, could only offer a temporary solution to the challenges of insecurity in the country.
The group said the proposed state of national emergency would “prepare the ground for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference, which would bring all the peoples ethnic groups in Nigeria together at a roundtable on the future of the country.”
The statement commended President Goodluck Jonathan for the courage he showed by the action, but described his declaration of a state of emergency in the three states as an inadequate solution that could only offer a temporary respite from the country’s challenges.
“However, we are convinced that this is merely a temporary solution that once again falls short of the determined course of action that should finally put this country on the part of progress, the group said.”