Buhari’s missed opportunity

TO the chagrin of many a Nigerian, President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to honour his promise to address a joint session of the National Assembly slated for December 10 to answer questions on security issues. The president had been invited via a resolution of the House of Representatives to address the house on the deteriorating security situation in the country. The house’s summons was personally conveyed to the president by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, out of courtesy and to underscore the seriousness of the national concern on the pervasive and heightening insecurity in the land. And to the pleasant surprise of many, the president agreed to address the National Assembly. However, that uncharacteristic but heartening disposition was transient, as he developed cold feet and his spin doctors went to work to rationalise his unequivocal disdain for the representatives of the people.

First, it was some state governors that allegedly advised and persuaded the president not to honour the invitation he had previously accepted and their selfish and parochial motivation for their unsavoury advisory was that the State Assemblies could take a cue from the National Assembly to begin to summon them to give account of their stewardship. This was followed by the absurd position of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, that the National Assembly has no power to summon Mr. President, a confused submission that turns both law and logic on its head. To be sure, the constitutional provision that precludes the president from being summoned is strictly in respect of court summons and it by no means alludes to invitations by the National Assembly. And is it not even logical that the National Assembly that has the power of the purse and appropriates money for running government policies and programmes should be at liberty to perform its oversight functions on governmental institutions, including the security agencies implementing the policies and programmes?

The constitution is unequivocal on the power of the legislature to invite any government official in the ordinary course of carrying out its oversight functions. Sections 88 and 89 grant the National Assembly the power to summon the president and that is in addition to Section to 147 of the constitution which also applies to him by virtue of his position as the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources. Even at that, assuming but not conceding that the constitution actually deprives the National Assembly of the power to summon the President, is the appalling level of security in the land exemplified by the recent ghoulish and bizarre massacre of 43 farmers by Boko Haram terrorists near the village of Zabarmari, Bornu State, not enough reason for the Commander-in-Chief under whose watch such mindless killings happened to address the country or the people’s representatives? What does Mr President stand to lose if he addresses the National Assembly? Or is anyone saying that the constitution also prohibits the president from addressing the National Assembly even if he chooses to do so of his own volition, particularly when there is a compelling reason to do so?

It is lucid for all to see that the president’s strategy to combat the menace of insecurity exemplified by the atrocious activities of the Boko Haram terrorists, bandits, killer herdsmen and so on in the land, is plainly suboptimal. What then is wrong or unusual with the president rubbing minds with the legislators, the representatives of the people, to find solutions to the seemingly intractable challenge? It is difficult to fathom how the interrogation by the legislators  of the president’s strategy which has thus far failed woefully would amount to harassment and insults as being suggested in the official quarters. And as it stands, Mr. President would rather prevent the extant sloppy security arrangement from benefiting from conversation with the legislators in order not to be harassed or insulted by the parliamentarians.

Sadly, self-preservation is being prioritised over a search for solutions to a lingering and grave national challenge. It is even unclear why the president is apprehensive of appearing before a National Assembly in which his party has a clear majority and whose leadership is even beholden to him as the leader of the party. Whether he relies on the governors’ alleged advice or the specious argument put up by the AGF, the sovereignty of the people has been threatened by President Buhari’s refusal to honour the invitation of the people’s representatives. This is in addition to the moral burden he bears for reneging on a promise that is absolutely within his power to honour. Buhari failed to honour his word and by so doing, he missed the opportunity to let the people know what is going on and disprove the widely held view that he is taciturn, detached and insensitive to the myriads of challenges confronting Nigerians.

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