... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
Islamists has ended, the lower house of parliament said Thursday, announcing that it had rejected a government request to extend the special powers.
The development came on a day that saw police fire tear gas inside the parliament building, apparently targeting the speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, who defected to the opposition last month.
President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
on Tuesday asked politicians in the lower house and Senate to approve an extension of the 18-month emergency rule in three northeastern states: Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
He said the move was needed to sustain the pressure against Boko Haram.
But opposition politicians in both chambers have described the emergency rule policy as a failure, with Boko Haram making massive gains since May last year.
"Emergency rule is over as far as we are concerned," said House of Representatives front man Zakaria Mohammed.
He said the president needs approval from both houses of parliament to secure an extension and that members of the lower house resolved that the extension was not merited.
A vote was not taken and the decision came in a closed-door session, as Senate president David Mark ordered the closure of the parliament because of the disturbances inside the complex.
"We have asked the president to rely on Section 8 of the Armed Forces Act which empowers him to deploy the military to trouble spots in the country," Mohammed added.
"If we have adopted a particular style and it's not yielding the desired results, âwe should be able to change course," he told AFP.
Experts have questioned the usefulness of Jonathan's emergency decree, and the additional powers given to the military to carry out the 18-month offensive have never been spelt out.
The military was operating in all three affected states before the May 2013 declaration, which many saw as an attempt by Jonathan to underscore the severity of the Boko Haram conflict.