Ø As House suspends president’s scheduled appearance
Ø “We can summon Mr. President” – Reps leader
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, (AGF), Abubakar Malami says the National Assembly has no constitutional power to summon President Muhammadu Buhari.
The House yesterday suspended its earlier plan for a briefing by the President, after it became clear the president would no longer honour the House’s invitation.
In a statement issued yesterday, Malami said it was outside the constitutional powers of the National Assembly to summon the president over his “operational use of the Armed Forces”.
According to the statement, the president’s efforts on security matters are exclusive and confidential, and as such, “the National Assembly has 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.”
Malami added that the decision to appear before the national assembly should be at the president’s discretion and not subject to summons by the lawmakers.
Recall that the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors had urged President Buhari to shelve his scheduled appearance. At a Tuesday night meeting between the governors and the party’s caucus in the National Assembly, those in attendance argued for hours on reasons for and against the appearance of the president before the house.
The governors were said to be concerned because their state houses of assembly may want to take the opportunity to “harass” the governors by seeking frequent appearances.
At plenary yesterday, the House failed to mention an item on its order paper to admit the President into the House Chamber. The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, who presided over the plenary deliberately skipped the item.
However, in a swift reaction to Malami , the Reps. Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, has described as strange, the claim by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), that they lack the powers to summon the president.
Okechukwu, in a statement issued yesterday and titled: ‘Deputy Minority Leader Faults Malami on Buhari’s House Summons…Says APC Fiddles while Nigeria Burns,’ said the AGF was only airing the position of the ruling APC.
The Deputy Minority Leader, who is a lawyer, stated that, “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 lives of Nigerians. The APC is evidently fiddling with propaganda and politics while Nigeria burns”.
