Buhari To Shun NASS Summon

By Seun Adeuyi

Nigeria’s Pres­ident, Muhammadu Buhari may shun the invitation by the House of Representatives to ap­pear before it over the rising spate of insecurity in the nation.

Daily Independent quoted a presidency source to have said the planned meeting is “not on the president’s itinerary”

Also, in a telephone interview with the Online newspaper on Wednesday, the Chief Whip of the House, Muhammed Monguno, confirmed this, saying the president’s change of mind may not be unconnected to alleged plot by the opposition Peoples Demo­cratic Party’s (PDP) caucus in the Green Chamber to embar­rass him.

On Tuesday night, the caucus met behind closed doors but the outcome of the meeting was not made public.

Though President Buhari had earlier given Speaker Femi Gbaja­biamila, his words, it was learnt that governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Pro­gressives Congress (APC) had urged him to shelve his sched­uled appearance.

The governors reportedly urged the president not to visit the National Assembly as a result of the uncertainty surrounding the actions of the PDP lawmakers who had earlier declared the president incapacitated and called for his impeachment.

It was also gathered that the governors were said to be concerned because their state Houses of Assem­bly may want to take the op­portunity to harass them by seeking frequent appearanc­es.

Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, in a statement had said the National Assem­bly lacks the power to invite the president to speak on security matters.

He argued that the right of the presi­dent to engage the National Assembly and appear before it is “inherently discretion­ary in the president and not at the behest of the National Assembly.”