Prominent Senior Advocates of Nigeria and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party members, on Wednesday, faulted the claim by the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, that the National Assembly had no powers to summon the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) over the rising insecurity in the country.
Malami had said this in a statement titled, ‘Buhari’s summons: NASS Operates outside constitutional bounds’, on Wednesday.
The House of Representatives, led by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, had last week invited Buhari over the rising insecurity in the country, especially the recent killing of over 43 rice farmers in Borno State.
An aide to the President, Lauretta Onochie, had revealed that Buhari would appear before a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday. However, reports began to filter in on Tuesday that the President had decided not to attend the meeting.
The AGF said security matters remained the exclusive preserve of the executive arm of government and the National Assembly must not forget this.
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He said, “The management and control of the security sector is exclusively vested in the President by Section 218 (1) of the Constitution as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, including the power to determine the operational use of the armed forces. An invitation that seeks to put the operational use of the armed forces to a public interrogation is indeed taking the constitutional rights of law making beyond bounds.
“As the Commander-in-Chief, the President has exclusivity on security and has confidentiality over security. These powers and rights he does not share. So, by summoning the President on national security operational matters, the House of Representative operated outside constitutional bounds. The President’s exclusivity of constitutional confidentiality investiture within the context of the constitution remains sacrosanct.”
Malami said the President could freely address the National Assembly whenever he wanted, but could not be summoned to do so.
“Mr President enjoys constitutional privileges attached to the office of the President, including exclusivity and confidentiality investiture in security operational matters, which remains sacrosanct,” he stated.
The AGF added that the National Assembly had no “constitutional power to envisage or contemplate a situation where the President would be summoned by the National Assembly on operational use of the Armed Forces.”
“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,” Malami stated.
He said Buhari had been able to effectively tackle insecurity and recover land that was hitherto being occupied by Boko Haram.
Malami added, “President Muhammadu Buhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has recorded tremendous success in containing the hitherto incessant bombing, colossal killings, wanton destruction of lives and property that bedevilled the country before taking the helm of affairs of the country in 2015.
“The confidentiality of strategies employed by the President as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not open for public exposure in view of the security implications in probable undermining of the war against terror.”
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