Last week, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
sent a proposal to the National Assembly seeking the extension of the state of emergency in the North Eastern States of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa even as Senators from these states have vowed to ensure that the proposal does not sail through.
What do the public think about the contentious issue? Our chief correspondent, Calista Ezeaku and photographer went round the town to seek answers to the question.

Comrade Larry Owhonda – Chairman National Union of Printing Publishing Rivers State.
Well, the proposal by the president to extend the state of emergency in the three North Eastern States of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa is good because the insurgency in these states is still not settled. If not for the emergency rule probably the number of casualties would have been more than what we are currently experiencing. On the issue of National Assembly members from the North East kicking against the extension and claiming that the emergency rule has not been effective, I think they are not being sincere. They can not say the emergency rule has not benefited them. If they say it has not benefitted them, they should go home and see whether they can stay. They can’t stay in Abuja and say it has not benefitted them while their people are suffering at home. They should even be grateful to the president because he cares for the people or else they cannot stay in Abuja and be talking about voting against the president and yet they say they are representing the people. They are not representing the people if that is the case. Because as legislators, they are even the ones who should give support to the president, making sure that this insurgency comes to an end by supporting the emergency rule.
I will even advocate that there should be total emergency, the governors should all go so that the military can take full control of that area, because even among the politicians there are informants to Boko Haram. So if there is total emergency rule, the military can now be on top of the security situation in that area.

Mr. Paul Daga – Journalist. I think that proposal is very appropriate. I say so because the rate of insurgency in the north is becoming alarming.  Just recently, over 200 Chibok School Girls were abducted and there is rampant cases of criminality. Every now and then, you hear people being killed. What that means, is that if the emergency rule was not in place, there would have been nobody in that region. Everybody would have ran away from there.
Yes, the emergency has been effective despite the abduction of the Chibok girls. But you don’t expect the military to be every where. Even we, over selves, have to be security conscious.
Even if we know that some security officials are around, we still have to employ some measure of security for ourselves. Those girls were taken in the night and you don’t know the terrain, you don’t know the nature of the area.
I disagree with the legislators from the north east saying the emergency rule has not yielded any positive result. During the last presidential media chat, the president rightly said that if we think the emergency rule is not working let’s ask all the security personnel to withdraw and you will see what happens there. So, it is working and the extension is necessary. It should be extended by six months after which we review the situation and if there is need for more extension, the president should go ahead and extend it. That place must be sanitised, I would have wished that the emergency rules should be total, every political structure should be disbanded, the army should take over the whole place so, that they can be very effective.

Mr. Abel Ohiomoje- Banker. Personally, I don’t think it is the extension of the state of emergency  that will solve the issue of insurgency in Nigeria. We really need to look at the root causes of this problem. I think it is politically motivated more than what they are portraying in the media. All these issues came into play when somebody from the minority ethnic group took over the mantle of leadership of the country. If Boko Haram is really a terrorist organization, how come we were not hearing much about them, they weren’t this active. I know they’ve been on ground for some years now but it wasn’t up to this scale. The issues of suicide bombing and so on just started when somebody from the minority took over power. The truth is that our mentality as Nigerians have to change especially the mentality of having three major tribes. I have never been a fan of it. I don’t see a country where you say that it is just three tribes out of so many that are meant to rule. That has been our problem from the genesis.
Secondly, our political offices are just too attractive financially. If our political offices are not that financially attractive, if it such that if you are going there, you know that you are going there for the service of humanity not to make millions, I don’t see how politicians will make it a do or die thing, such that they will go to the extent of arming youths to get their selfish interests carried out.
So far with the state of emergency in place, insecurity problem has not be  tackled. It is even growing by the day. So I don’t think extending it will be called for rather should be called off but the people from these communities must be involved in securing their localities. If they are involved I don’t see how Boko Haram members will be succeeding. This people are not spirits. They stay somewhere, they have neighbours. You can’t just tell me they disappear into tin air. From all the scenario being played out especially in the case of the Chibok girls kidnapping it is obvious that our security has been compromised. It has gone beyond what we are actually seeing on TV.

Comrade Kelvin Acha – Student. For me, I like the idea of extending the emergency rule because really the terrorists have been disturbing and if the state of emergency is not extended they will begin to disturb the nation the more I believe the state of emergency reduces the activities of Boko Haram a bit compare to when they are free. But if you ask me, I would have suggested that the extension should be for only four moths instead of six months that the president proposed.

Mr. Hope Solomon – Civil Servant. It is a good proposal. It’s a good thing to extend the emergence rule so that the place can be sanitised. As far as I am concerned, the emergency rule has been effective if it has not been effective Boko Haram would have taken over the North East. The way they came, they would have taken over the place. Northern Senators said they would vote against the emergency rule proposal. Tell me, is this country their own? But the president has the power to veto it even if they vote against it. For the lives of the people there, let the emergency rule continue. I will even prefer a total state of emergency. Let the military take absolute control. The senators are in Abuja and do not suffer what the people in their villages are passing through. They should go to their villages, let the terrorists come and lets see what will happen. Let’s see if they can defend themselves.

Daerefama Anabraba – Legal Practitioner.  For me, what we should ask ourselves is, prior before now the emergency rule has been on, what effect has it created and why should we extend it? That is what we should think about. And I think if the thing is not working out we should find any other means of solving the problems of the northerners and not by always extending the emergency rule.
Let us see the state of emergency from the perspective of the senators from the affected states. Although Goodluck Jonathan is our brother but let us see it from those legislators perspective. How far, how well has it gone? So I think for now let the president look for a better panacea than always extending the emergence.
I think the involvement of foreign nationals in the fight against Boko Haram is a good development. So I think government should go for that one instead of extending the emergency rule. There shouldn’t be any extension for now.