The Attorney General of the federation issued a threat sometime ago that state of emergency will be declared in Anambra state due to the on going civil unrest in the state and other neighboring states.
Perhaps, the honorable Attorney General was too hasty to make the press briefing without finding time to look deep into what the law says and advise himself in due diligence that the Attorney General of the federation does not have such power to declare state of emergency in Anambra state or any part of Nigeria thereof.
The power to declare state of emergency in any part in Nigeria rest solely on the president who is the commander in chief of the arm forces and such power cannot be delegated no matter the circumstance. The Inspector General of police doesn’t have the power to declare state of emergency, neither does Chief of Army Staff, not even the governor of a state have the power to declare state of emergency in his state and no other public servant be it elected or appointed no matter the position the fellow occupy have such power to declare a state of emergency in any part of the federation.
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What then is state of emergency?
It is the suspension of normal law and order procedures ie, the regular laws regulating the state and the introduction of strict controls of the citizens. This usually involves the military taking over so that crisis, revolution, etc can be curtailed and contained. This can come into play when there’s total break down of law and order and the security foundation of the state have totally been breached and the security personnels overwhelmed. State of emergency can also be declared when there’s war or the territorial integrity of the state is been threatened.
According to section 45(3) of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, 1999: period of emergency” means any period during which there is in force a Proclamation of a state of emergency declared by the President in exercise of the powers conferred on him under section 305 of this Constitution.
In this section of the constitution, it is clearly spelt out that it is only the president that have such power to declare state of emergency in any part of the country and such power was thereby conferred on him by section 305 of the same constitution.
Section 305(1) of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria thereby reads:
Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the President may by instrument published in the Official – Gazette} of the Government of the Federation issue a Proclamation of a state of emergency in the Federation or any part thereof.
This power to declare state of emergency due to how precarious it is imbedded only in the president cannot be delegated by him to anybody; not even to the Vice President nor to the Attorney General, it is exercised by the president alone and he alone have the power to declare state of emergency at any given time.
It should be clearly noted that the president cannot abuse this power to declare state of emergency as there must be some threshold and a bench mark for a civil unrest in any particular state to warrant state of emergency being declared.
Ps: the word ‘state’ as constantly used in this article means ‘country’.