The House of Representatives has explained that its invitation extended to President Muhamadu Buhari over the nation’s security situation was not intended to ridicule the president and his office.
Spokesman of the House, Benjamin Kalu, who dropped the hint on Thursday said while no date is certain for the President’s appearance yet, it may be likely next week.
He however assured that after the engagement, Nigerians should expect to see a lot of changes.
“The whole House was happy, when it was announced that the president had expressed his desire to honour our invitation. We want to commend Mr President for believing in democracy”, he said.
The lawmaker also stated that it was an invitation, and not a summon, so the president was engaged through what he called “back channel diplomacy” by the leadership of the House, to obtain his commitment to honour the invitation, and is also being allowed to readjust his programmes before a convenient date and time would be fixed, assuring also that it would not take any time long because of the nature of the issue involved.
“The partnership will be in the interest of Nigerians. The invitation does not ridicule our president”, he said, noting that as different arms of government, it is good to compare notes from time to time as issues arise.
“Since we are not summoning, we are inviting. This is legislative diplomacy, so we can not say you are summoned to appear on so and so date, and at so and so time. The language of summon is different from invitation”, said, adding that for that reason, the president would communicate at a convenient time.
On the widespread call for the president to sack the service chiefs, Kalu assured that the House would also engage Buhari on the issue. “We are looking for a solution.
We are looking for better strategies. We will look at the strengths and the weaknesses of the president and put everything on the table. If failure to sack the service chiefs is one of such weaknesses, we will put it at the table, though the president may have his reasons. Nigerians should expect changes after the engagement”, he submitted.
