The failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to appear before the House of Representative on Thursday to address the green chamber on the strategies by government to arrest the worsening insecurity in the country is very disappointing, to say the least.
After the gruesome slaughtering of more than 43 rice farmers in Zabarmani, Jere local government area of Borno state, by Boko Haram, the leadership of green chamber met Mr President in the state house. In the course of their discussion, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila handed an invitation letter to President Buhari who promised to honour it.
A day to the scheduled meeting, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Federation, Abubakar Malami, said the National Assembly lacks constitutional power to summon the president on the spate of insecurity in the country. Malami said, “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 armed forces. An invitation that seeks to put the operational use of the armed force to a public interrogation is indeed taking the constitutional rights of law making beyond its bounds.
The minister forgot or failed to cite sections 88 and 89 which empower to the legislature to summon any public officer. The section did not exclude Mr President, who is also a public officer. Malami deliberately used section 281(1) to provide legal backing for Buhari to escape scrutiny. Besides, there was insinuation that some APC governors prevailed on the president not to attend the meeting for fear of ripple effect or it will set a bad precedence at the state level where state assemblies can summon governors at will.
I reliably gathered that by honouring the invitation and appearing before the House, Mr President will be booed or ridiculed by opposition PDP members. Whatever the reason for not attending the meeting, President Buhari has robbed Nigerians the golden opportunity to hear from him. Yes, Nigerians want to know why the country bleeds and why he keeps his underperforming service chiefs, in spite of their glaringly failures. Instead of turning down or snubbing the invitation, President Buhari would have opted for private meeting with the principal officers of the National Assembly and brief them ON what government’s plans in respect of security challenges across the country. This long awaited opportunity has been missed.
President Buhari came to power through popular votes. However, since he assumed office, his performance or ratings on security and economy have remained poor. His aborted meeting with the National Assembly would have afforded him the opportunity to correct the belief he is not in charge. With the abduction of over 600 students in Kankara, Katsina state, it seems the insecurity situation in the North-west states has taken a dangerous dimension.
Had Buhari honoured the green chamber’s invitation, our lawmakers would have grilled him with questions such as: Why have Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna states continued to experience bandits’ attacks? Why have kidnappers continued to terrorise Kaduna-Abuja road? Why have the decimated or technically defeated Boko Haram re-emerged and launched attacks on our armies and helpless Borno communities? I think it is not too late for Mr President to set another time and address our curious lawmakers.
Ibrahim Mustapha,
Pambegua, Kaduna state
08169056963.
