The Federal Government has said it will declare a state of emergency in Anambra State in order to increase security ahead of the state’s governorship election on November 6th.
Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, made the announcement on Wednesday after President Muhammadu Buhari’s Federal Executive Council meeting.
Malami stated that the government will do all possible to safeguard people and property, adding that if the state government fails to secure democratic order and life security, the federal government will prevail and will not rule out declaring a state of emergency.
This comes amid a wave of insecurity that has engulfed the state and the whole south-east area.
At least ten people have been slain in various incidents across Anambra in the previous several weeks.
However, the Anambra government has criticised the action, claiming that insecurity in the state is politically motivated, through its Commissioner for Information, Don Adinuba.
“Since the renewed violence in Anambra State which we believe is politically motivated, not more than 15 persons have been killed. How many persons have died in Borno, Niger, Kaduna, Yobe, Zamfara, even Imo, which is APC-controlled; Ebonyi, which is APC-controlled?” he asked during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
Unlike some north-western and north-eastern regions that have been hardest hit by banditry and terrorism, the commissioner claimed the state has seen about 15 fatalities in the last few weeks.
“Has anybody threatened emergency rule in any of these states? For the past seven years, Anambra has remained the safest, [and] most stable in Nigeria.
“We remain the only state in the whole country that, for the past seven years, has not experienced one single bank robbery; what is going on is politically motivated and the declaration by the honourable Attorney-General of the Federation is a confirmation,” the commissioner insisted.
“Nigerians are outraged by the threat by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.”
