Apparently suspicious that President Buhari may not address it, the House of Representatives was yesterday silent on the planned visit of the president to the National Assembly.
There was no announcement to that effect to members of the House at plenary, contrary to the assurance earlier given to State House correspondents by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila that Buhari had agreed to honour the invitation by the House.
Efforts to get the spokesperson of the House, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, to respond to the position of the minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Malami, proved abortive as Kalu didn’t respond to calls and SMS sent to his known telephone line.
Meanwhile, leader of the People Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives, Hon Kingsley Chinda, while responding to inquiries from our correspondent noted that Malami’s position was wrong.
Also, the deputy minority leader of the House, Hon Toby Okechukwu, faulted the minister 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).
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Chinda, in a telephone chat, made reference to sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“The AGF’s argument is placed on a very wrong foundation and circus show, sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)” he said.
For his own part, Okechukwu who is a senior lawyer disagreed with Malami, describing the AGF’s position as “strange”.
He 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, Gbajabiamila.
He stated: “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 pressurize 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”.
The lawmaker, who represents Aninri/Awgu/Oji River Federal Constituency of 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 sit 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.
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