Yar'Adua says violence under control, to meet Fashola on LCDAs

THE various crises and controversies raging in the land got the public attention of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. As he prepared to board a plane on his way to Brazil on a three-day visit, the President spoke on the constitutional feud over Lagos local councils, the religious crisis in the north, and the on-going industrial action by university teachers.

According to the President, Nigeria's defence and security forces have been mandated to immediately launch a major operation in a section of the Borno State capital, Maiduguri, to rout out the leader and remaining members of the religious militant group - Boko Haran - which translates as "Western education is prohibited."

The President, who confirmed that the leader of the so-called Taliban group is residing in Maiduguri and that most of the adherents of his version of Islam, have migrated from all the northern states to launch a holy war, said Nigerians should be assured that the situation is "completely under control."

He indeed had just finished a meeting with the nation's security chiefs before his convoy left for the airport.

Yar'Adua noted that it was the security agencies, which first launched a pre-emptive action against the extremists after "tracking them for years," adding that once the operation in Maiduguri was completed, there would be continuous security surveillance all over the northern states to fish out remnants of the group who are to be dealt with "squarely and promptly."

His administration, the President said, "will not tolerate any armed insurrection anywhere and in any part of this country."

According to him, "there has been very serious action. In fact, we have a situation under control now and I believe by the end of today (Tuesday) everything would have taken shape. I have been monitoring this situation in the last few days. By yesterday (Monday), the situation in Bauchi State had been contained completely and the crisis in Kano and Potiskum have also been dealt with. What we have now is a situation in Borno State where the leader of the so-called Taliban group is residing and where most of them have migrated from all the northern states to prepare and declare the holy war. We are going to launch an operation, the main operation with immediate effect. I have just finished a meeting with our Defence chiefs, who have been in constant contact with the Governors of Borno, Bauchi, Kano and other (Northern) states.

"So, this situation is being brought under control and I want to assure the nation. What has happened is that it was the government that moved to nip in the bud the action of a potentially dangerous people. These people have been organising, penetrating our society, procuring arms, learning how to make explosives and bombs to disturb, confuse and force their belief on the rest of Nigerians. Definitely, our security agencies have been tracking them for years and I believe that the operation we have launched now will be an operation that will contain them once and for all. Once the operation in Maiduguri is completed today (Tuesday), we are going to continue with the security surveillance all over the northern states to fish out any remnants of these elements and deal with them squarely and promptly.

"I want to assure that this administration will not tolerate any arms insurrection anywhere and in any part of this country. Anywhere any group of people begin to launch arm insurrection and destruction against their fellow Nigerians, they will be dealt with squarely and promptly." He continued: "I want to emphasise that this is not an inter-religious crisis and it is not the Taliban group that attacked the security agents first. No. It was as a result of a security information gathered on their intention, movement and what they were about to launch by getting all their people to move so that they could launch a major attack. The situation is under control and I want to assure the people of this country that peace and security of life and property will be fully guaranteed."

President Yar'Adua also said he did not see how the issue between the Federal Government and the Lagos State translated to an ultimatum but that it has everything to do with adhering strictly to the Constitution, which must not be violated.

But he said the differences could still be resolved through dialogue, adding that "if at the end of the day, dialogue fails to resolve the situation, then the Federal Government will be forced to take measures that will ensure that the Lagos State Government, State IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) and other agencies are compelled to abide by the Constitution". This however, is a process that will take some months and I hope that we will be able to resolve the issue through constructive dialogue".

The President said: "What happened was that I wrote to the Lagos State Governor, drawing his attention to the fact that both himself and myself have sworn to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of this country and that the action of Lagos State government and the State IEC was unconstitutional because the Constitution provides for only 20 Local Governments in Lagos State. And I advised the Lagos State governor to take steps to rectify this unconstitutional act.

"He replied me, quoting the state statutes and putting forward his legal position that they did not violate the constitution. I have referred his reply to the AGF (Attorney-General of the Federation) to study the reply and advise me. What I am determined to do is that what is constitutional must be adhered to. So, if the argument put forward cannot stand on the violation of the constitution, I will invite him to discuss further with him and dialogue so that this can be resolved peacefully.

"But the bottom line is that the constitution cannot be compromised. The constitution must not be violated. If at the end of the day, dialogue fails to resolve the situation, then the Federal Government will be forced to take measures that will ensure that the Lagos State Government, its IEC and other agencies are compelled to abide by the Constitution. This is a process that will take a few months and I hope that we would be able to resolve the issue through constructive dialogue. Our democracy is still young. We are bound to make mistakes here and there. But the important thing is that we must work hard to ensure the rule of law in this country. We know it is not easy but it is important to our survival."

On the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, Yar'Adua said his government has "been doing everything possible to stop the crisis. I have met with their officials and the Vice President too, to re-assess to see what step the government can take to bring it to an end. We are anxious, we are disturbed that we should keep our students in the universities at home for a very long period of time. One central issue of the disagreement is not even that of negotiation of salaries but the issue of signing an agreement with ASUU. It is that this collective bargaining and signing agreement with ASUU is against our laws and legal system.

"ASUU is an organisation with membership cutting across federal and state governments. The Federal Government cannot sign an agreement on behalf for instance, of Lagos State or Kano State to direct what they are going to pay to lecturers in their own universities. The laws of this country provide for separation of powers. The Lagos State University or Kano State University belongs to the states. They employ the lecturers there. They pay them. They discipline them. They promote them. They also pay their salaries, allowances and everything. And we don't have control of their funds. Their funds are appropriated by their various houses of Assembly. We can't direct them by law to say that they should pay their lecturers so amount of money. This is what we are telling them, that let us have your agreement. We are not opposed to it but we will not sign a collective agreement to cut across all tiers of government because we don't have the constitutional power to do that.

"This is very clear. In this nation, we must respect our laws. And this is one of the main points of contention. We told them that for Federal universities, the federal government will provide the money but for the state governments, let them go and negotiate with

State Governments. If Rivers State can pay the members of staff of Rivers State University that amount, may be Kano cannot afford to pay the same amount. We discussed these issues. Where we disagreed and again I asked the minister and other senior government officials to explain to the nation through the media what the situation is and also to ask the Vice President to again invite ASUU and other operators of our educational system to see how we can resolve the disagreement so that the students can return to schools," he said

Meanwhile, rulers in Lagos have said the ultimatum given by Yar'Adua to Fashola was provocative. They faulted the President in asking the state government to revert to the 20 council structure or risk sanctions.

Fashola's predecessor, Bola Tinubu, who joined the rulers to condemn the presidential directive, asked Yar'Adua to put pressure on the National Assembly to add the names of the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to the constitution so that they could carry out the roles expected of them.

At the meeting were all the Obas and chiefs in the state, led by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu 1.

Akiolu said the Supreme Court had ruled that the creation of the LCDAs was in order. He added that the order, which came barely 24 hours after the Atlas Cove jetty was bombed in Lagos, was an indication that he (the President) was not sympathetic to the people of the state as a result of that attack.

The statement issued by the obas read in part: "The meeting viewed the ultimatum to the state Government as uncalled for and provocative in view of the fact that the Supreme Court had long ruled that the creation of the LCDAs was in order;

* that the ultimatum coming barely 24 hours after a bomb attack on the Atlas Cove in Lagos without any sympathy from the Presidency to the people of the state, was quite disturbing;

* that the issues involved were purely a matter of law and not raw display of power as the ultimatum portends;

* any attempt at frustrating the existence of the 37 LCDAs would amount to slowing down the socio economic development of the state and a negation of the wishes and aspirations of the good people of Lagos;

* that the Presidency is advised to seek redress in the court rather than unilaterally employ coercive means in resolving a purely legal matter against the law and the wishes of the people of the state;

* the meeting frowned at the use of the word 'ultimatum' under a civilian democracy and noted that such action portends a dictatorship in all ramifications."