Buhari shelves plan to address NASS on security

• Reps step down motion to admit President
• Lawmakers can’t summon him – Malami

Indication emerged on Wednesday that President Muhammadu Buhari has shelved his plan to address the joint sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday on the security situation in the country.

This came as the conventional legislative practice, ‘Admittance into the Chamber’ motion, slated on the Order Paper, which should have been sponsored by Hon Garba Alhassan Ado to suspend relevant House rules, was not entertained by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.

The motion provides that “that the House, pursuant to Order 19, Rule 8 (1) and (2) of the Standing Orders, do admit into the Chambers, the ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the service chiefs and other dignitaries for the purpose of receiving an address by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the security situation in the country.”

Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, on Wednesday said that the National Assembly lacked the constitutional power to summon President Buhari over security matters.

The President’s change of mind, it was learnt, might not be unconnected with an alleged plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus to embarrass him.

The resolution for Buhari not to attend the forum was reportedly reached at a meeting held on Tuesday night which lasted into the midnight at the Conference Room 028 New Building of the House of Representatives.

Some of the governors seen at the meeting are Aminu Masari of Katsina State and Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, as well as the former FCT Minister of State, Senator James Udoedehe.

One of the principal officers in the House of Representatives, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the decision was to avoid any form of embarrassment from the members of the opposition party, PDP.

Malami, in a statement, argued that the issue of security is confidential and how the president handles it should not be for public exposure.

“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 probable undermining of the war against terror”, he said.

He argued that Buhari had recorded tremendous success in containing the hitherto incessant bombings, colossal killings, wanton destruction of lives and property that bedeviled the country before attaining the helm of affairs of the country in 2015.

According to him national security is not about publicity and the nation’s security architecture cannot be exposed for the sake of getting publicity.

While stating that the President enjoys Constitutional privileges attached to the Office of the President including exclusivity and confidentiality investiture in security operational matters, which remains sacrosanct, he added that the National Assembly had no Constitutional Power to envisage or contemplate a situation where the President would be summoned by the National Assembly on 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 statement added.

But immediate past Chairman, House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Hon Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, said there was no justification for the President’s decision to turn down the invitation to brief Nigerians on the state of security.

“It was the House of Representatives of Nigeria that invited the President of Nigeria. It was not a summon; it was an invitation to bring us up to speed on the security matter in Nigeria, now that security is now topical and almost urgent.

“If he thinks to look at it legally, he may say you cannot summon because you can’t discipline. But one thing to look at is the security importance. He’s the commander in chief of all armed forces and the invitation is to tell us if there is any trouble in the security architecture so that we will know exactly what is the issue is.”

He also spoke on the reported role played by the governors to prevail on the President from honouring the House invitation.

He said, “We heard that the governors prevailed on him not to come, and it is very easy to understand why the governors said so because if he honours the invitation, the state assemblies will ask the governors to come, which is the proper thing. But because the relationship is master-servant; most parliaments in Nigeria run master-servant relationship; in that context, how can a servant order his master to come to render account?

“And if you are a governor, you owe the governed the duty to explain.”