Buhari makes U-turn, cancels appearance before Reps

TRACKING_____President Muhammadu Buhari’s planned appearance before the House of Representatives today to address the lawmakers on the state of insecurity in the country may not hold after all. Although there was no official statement confirming the president’s change of mind, it was clear that the leadership of the National Assembly had been briefed on the development.

The leadership of the House has also refused to comment on the development, but New Telegraph gathered that the president’s change of mind was caused by the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors who advised him against causing an appearance as well as alleged plots by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus led by Hon. Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers) to embarrass him.

A member of the House from Kano, who spoke to New Telegraph in confidence, said the president would have appeared before them, but for the advice of the APC and fear of being booed by PDP lawmakers. “The president can’t come here tomorrow (Thursday) again. I can tell you, the Buhari I know wanted to come, but the governors advised him against it.

“Again, last night, the PDP caucus met here and we learnt part of their strategy was to embarrass the president by booing him and asking embarrassing questions. “This was not our plan. We wanted to brainstorm with him and chart a way forward because we in the North especially are feeling the heat from Boko Haram and bandits. We want to know why he is keeping the service chiefs when they have completely failed; we want to know his game plan, but all this has been defeated,” the source said. Confirming the cancellation, the lawmaker noted that: “At least, you can see that the management of National Assem-bly is not even making any preparation to receive him (president).

Normally, if the president is coming, they would have started preparing since Monday. But as you can see, there is no such arrangement anywhere. So, he won’t be coming.” But speaking to New Telegraph, spokesman for the House, Hon. Benjamin Kalu (APC, Abia) said they are still expecting the president because he has not informed them of any cancellation. Kalu said the House will not respond to rumours until today, adding that as at Wednesday night, there was no communication from the president that he will not honour the invitation.

“The president has not communicated us that he is no longer coming. We are expecting him on Thursday and, therefore, we don’t want to believe that he has cancelled his appearance before us,” he said. On the statement from the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) that the National Assembly lacks powers to summon the President on security issues, Kalu said: “The constitution is very clear on that, but let us wait until Thursday.”

He said it will be premature for the House to take a decision before the appointed day, adding that “we will react appropriately after Thursday, if the president fails to come” In his reaction, the deputy minority leader of the House, Hon. Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu) faulted Malami on the powers of the National Assembly to summon the President, saying the AGF was only airing the position of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

But Okechukwu, a senior lawyer, disagreed with Malami, describing the AGF’s position as “strange”. The lawmaker said that the invitation was a prudent effort on the part of the legislature to find a lasting solution to the worsening insecurity in the country, adding that the President’s willingness to appear was evident in his interaction with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

“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,” he stated.

The lawmaker, who represents Aninri/Awgu/Oji River Federal Constituency, Enugu State, described as unfortunate a situation where every invitation by a branch of government to another branch to interact towards addressing any national challenges was considered as demeaning, thereby triggering unnecessary flexing of muscles.

“It is evident from APC’s position as made public by the AGF that the safety of Nigerian citizens would take a back seat in the next few days, while the argument over who is right or wrong unfortunately takes the front seat,” he added. He, therefore, called on President Buhari to rise above the legalese and political fray to show leadership in order to rally the Nigerian people and their parliament to find lasting solutions to the growing insecurity in the country.