President Buhari will not appear before National Assembly as promised…or will he?

With just less than 12 hours to his appearance before the Joint Session of the National Assembly, it is almost certain President Muhammadu Buhari will not show up to speak about national security challenges.

He was summoned last week Tuesday by the House of Representatives to explain the growing insecurity in the country after Representatives from Borno moved a motion in reaction to the killing of over 50 farmers by Boko Haram terrorists.

Already, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN has said that federal lawmakers have no powers under the constitution to summon the President, even as House leaders who announced with glee the decision of the President to meet with them have gone silent.

Said the statement from Malami’s office: “President Muhammadu Buhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has recorded tremendous success in containing the hitherto incessant bombing, colossal killings, wanton destruction of lives and property that bedeviled the country before attaining the helm of affairs of the country in 2015.

“The confidentiality of strategies employed by the President as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not open for public exposure in view of security implications in the probable undermining of the war against terror.

“The fact that President Muhammadu Buhari was instrumental to the reclaiming of over 14 Local Governments previously controlled by Boko Haram in the North East is an open secret, the strategies for such achievement are not open for public expose.

“While condoling the bereaved and sympathizing with the victims of the associated insecurity in the country, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN maintained that national security is not about publicity and the nation’s security architecture cannot be exposed for the sake of getting publicity.

“He said Mr. President has enjoyed Constitutional privileges attached to the Office of the President including exclusivity and confidentiality investiture in security operational matters, which remains sacrosanct.

“Malami added that the National Assembly has no Constitutional Power to envisage or contemplate a situation where the President would be summoned by the National Assembly on the operational use of the Armed Forces.

“The right of the President to engage the National Assembly and appear before it is inherently discretionary in the President and not at the behest of the National Assembly.

“The management and control of the security sector is exclusively vested in the President by Section 218 (1) of the Constitution as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces including the power to determine the operational use of the Armed Forces. An invitation that seeks to put the operational use of the Armed Forces to a public interrogation is indeed taking the constitutional rights of law-making beyond bounds.

“As the Commander in Chief, the President has exclusivity on security and has confidentiality over security. These powers and rights he does not share. So, by summoning the President on National Security operational Matters, the House of Representatives operated outside constitutional bounds. President’s exclusivity of constitutional confidentiality investiture within the context of the constitution remains sacrosanct.”

Recall that House Speaker, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, first announced the President’s decision to meet lawmakers.
Presidential Personal Assistant on Social Media, Ms. Lauretta Onochie, also announced on her Twitter handle that the President would appear at the National Assembly. Her disclosure was backed by House Leader Ado Doguwa.

But on Tuesday, the Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, called out Malami over his position that the National Assembly had no powers to summon Buhari.

He urged the President to ignore legal and political arguments and deal with the issues at hand.

His words, “Without making undue efforts to win an argument, Section 89 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended clearly empowers the Senate or the House of Representatives or a committee appointed in accordance with Section 62 of the Constitution to procure evidence, written or oral and to ‘summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place.

“Therefore the attempt to pressurise Mr President not to appear clearly shows that some highly placed political actors in the ruling party are placing politics over the protection of the lives of Nigerians.

“The APC is evidently fiddling with propaganda and politics while Nigeria burns….

“It is evident from APC’s position as made public by the AGF that the safety of Nigerian citizens would take a back sit in the next few days, while the argument over who is right or wrong unfortunately takes the front seat.”