NASS Invitation To Buhari : Lawmakers Have Gone ‘Beyond Bounds’ — Malami

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN has stressed that it is not constitutionally binding on President Muhammadu Buhari to appear before the National Assembly in order to explain what the administration is doing about the country’s security situation.

THE WHISTLER earlier reported that the House of Representatives, during its plenary on December 1, had invited President Buhari to “brief lawmakers on the security situation in the country” after the killing of 43 farmers in Borno by terrorists.

It was later learnt that the president promised to honor the invitation and appear for the briefing on Thursday.

But Malami, in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER on Wednesday, says the lawmakers crossed their boundary by summoning the President over cases of insecurity.

He noted that Buhari’s appearance before them is “discretionary” and not mandatory.

Furthermore, he warned that it is risky to reveal federal government’s security strategies, adding it is supposed to be confidential.

“…Mr. President has enjoyed Constitutional privileges attached to the Office of the President including exclusivity and confidentiality investiture in security operational matters, which remains sacrosanct.

“…The National Assembly has 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.

“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 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.

“President’s exclusivity of constitutional confidentiality investiture within the context of the constitution remains sacrosanct. ,” he added.

Also, Malami, while condoning with the bereaved, said that the current administration had done far better than others in securing the country.

“President Muhamamdu 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 bedeviled the country before attaining the helm of affairs of the country in 2015,” he said.