The House of Representatives yesterday announced it will reconvene on Thursday to consider President Goodluck Jonathan’s request that the National Assembly extend the emergency rule in the three north east states hit by the Boko Haram-led insurgency.
The Speaker of the House, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal authorised the reconvention of the house in a terse statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday evening.
Under the title ‘Special Session of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’, the statement had “consideration of Mr. President’s request for extension of the existing state of emergency” as its agenda.
The statement read: “On Tuesday, 18th November 2014, I received a communication from the President, Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, requesting for the extension of the existing state of emergency in Adamawa , Borno and Yobe states by the House of Representatives.
“Pursuant to the powers conferred on me by Section 305 ( 2 ) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which requires me to “forthwith convene or arrange a meeting of the House” and in order to treat the extension before the expiration of the current state of emergency in accordance with Section 305 (6) (c) of the Constitution, I hereby reconvene the House of Representatives, currently on recess.
“The schedule of the special session is as follows: Thursday, 20th November, 2014, 11:00 am prompt at the House of Representatives Chambers.
“All Honourable Members are requested to attend this Special Session, please,” Tambuwal stated.
It would be recalled that the House had adjourned on October 28, 2014, to resume on December 3, 2014. The adjournment came on the day the speaker announced his defection from the ruling People’ Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states have remained the hotbed of Boko Haram insurgency which has killed more than 13,000 and displaced hundreds of thousands since 2009.
