Nigeria\u2019s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has
\ntold Federal lawmakers that they have no constitutional powers to summon
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
Only last week, members of the House of Representatives passed a
\nresolution summoning the president over the rising insecurity in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
Soon after the House resolution, the Speaker of the House, Mr. Femi
\nGbajabiamila, announced that the President has agreed to address the
\nlawmakers.
\nBut in a new twist, the AGF said the lawmakers have no such powers.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Wednesday, Malami said it was outside the
\nconstitutional powers of the national assembly to summon the president
\nover his \u201coperational use of the armed forces\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Muhamamdu Buhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has
\nrecorded tremendous success in containing the hitherto incessant
\nbombing, colossal killings, wanton destruction of lives and property
\nthat bedeviled the country before attaining the helm of affairs of the
\ncountry in 2015,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe confidentiality of strategies employed by the President as the
\nCommander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of
\nNigeria is not open for public exposure in view of security implications
\nin the probable undermining of the war against terror.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that President Muhammadu Buhari was instrumental to the
\nreclaiming of over 14 Local Governments previously controlled by the
\nBoko Haram in North East is an open secret, the strategies for such
\nachievement are not open for public expose.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile condoling the bereaved and sympathising with the victims of the
\nassociated insecurity in the country, Attorney-General of the Federation
\nand Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN maintained that national
\nsecurity is not about publicity and the nation\u2019s security architecture
\ncannot be exposed for the sake of getting publicity.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the statement, the president\u2019s efforts on security matters
\nare exclusive and confidential, and as such, \u201cthe National Assembly has
\nno Constitutional Power to envisage or contemplate a situation where the
\nPresident would be summoned by the National Assembly on the operational
\nuse of the Armed Forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Malami added that the decision to appear before the national assembly
\nshould be at the president\u2019s discretion and not subject to summons by
\nthe lawmakers.
\n\u201cThe right of the President to engage the National Assembly and appear
\nbefore it is inherently discretionary in the President and not at the
\nbehest of the National Assembly,\u201d the attorney-general said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe management and control of the security sector is exclusively vested
\nin the President by Section 218 (1) of the Constitution as the Commander
\nin Chief of the Armed Forces including the power to determine the
\noperational use of the Armed Forces. An invitation that seeks to put the
\noperational use of the Armed Forces to a public interrogation is indeed
\ntaking the constitutional rights of law-making beyond bounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the Commander in Chief, the President has exclusivity on security
\nand has confidentiality over security. These powers and rights he does
\nnot share. So, by summoning the President on National Security
\noperational Matters, the House of Representatives operated outside
\nconstitutional bounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident\u2019s exclusivity of constitutional confidentiality investiture
\nwithin the context of the constitution remains sacrosanct.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria\u2019s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has told Federal lawmakers that they have no constitutional powers to summon President Muhammadu Buhari. Only last week, members of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n