MALAMI STALLS PMB/NASS INTERFACE : How Not To Defend The President
Nasir Sambo
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- 6 minutes read
| It is no longer news that persistent insecurity is threatening the peaceful existence of Nigerians, as on daily basis news of armed banditry attacks, kidnappings and killings of innocent citizens continue to greet the air. Scores of dozens or even hundreds of Nigerians continue to loss their precious lives and properties due to the activities of hoodlums who mostly are trigger happy therefore kill with wanton abandon and for no reason in particular. In the process several communities are unbelievably sacked, as the whole houses, including stored food stuffs and livestock, are raised to ashes, while men are slaughtered and women and girls raped and taken as hostages. Our roads, especially those linking states and major towns in the North, have become death traps, as hoodlums take control, opening fire and attacking oncoming vehicles, killing the less fortunate and kidnapping others for untold ransoms. What is even more disheartening remains the fact that, in some locations, Nigerians are followed to the comfort of their homes to be taken away by the kidnappers irrespective of the time of the day or night. The latest in the series of failures under the Buhari Presidency is the embarrassing abductions of over 500 students of Government Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State, the home state of the President and at a time he is in the state for a weeklong vacation. While the President could not visit the school or Kankara community to sympathise with the parents of the abducted kids, he found time to visit his cows in Daura in a farm house that has now been modernised with everything modern and expensive. Similarly, farmers in the Northern part of the country are followed to their farms, which are usually on the outskirts of the cities and towns, and either kidnapped or slaughtered like rams. This is an example of what happened in Zabarmari of Borno State some weeks back, where rice farmers were reportedly accosted by gunmen, who tied their hands behind their backs and subsequently laid them down one after the other and slaughtered them like rams. The situation has been growing worse by the day, as even citizens are finding it difficult to understand whether it is worrisome, fearsome or both; especially looking at the fact that the wanton insecurity has remained unabated despite the colossal sums of money expended through government’s allocations to all security outfits in the country. Disturbed by the budgetary wastages and suspected leakages, the National Assembly (NASS) therefore thought of doing something proactive and pragmatic by inviting President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) to address a joint session of the NASS and answer questions from Representatives and Senators on what they refer to as state of the nation with particular reference to the insecurity. DESERT HERALD believes that this is in fact a very good move which in the least will afford Nigerians the unique opportunity to hear from the President firsthand what the situation is like and what exactly the government and the president are doing to ensure that lives and properties of Nigerians are secured. Feelers have it that PMB has accepted the invite and had even set aside a date for him to go to the NASS for the said session only for Nigerians to wake up two days later with a different news that no less personalities than the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami and the leadership of the NASS have all came forward in defense of the President that the Nigerian constitution has actually not allowed the NASS to summon the President to brief it on such issues. Malami was said to have invoked section 118 of Nigeria’s Constitution to buttress his fact. It was not only disappointing, however, but also unfortunate that legal professionals have come up to attack Malami, saying the particular section of the constitution he invoked did not in any way discourse the legality or otherwise of the NASS to summon the President; rather, it discourses something entirely different. In essence, the legal professionals were quick to hint that specifically sections 88 and 89 of Nigeria’s Constitution have empowered the NASS to invite, call or summon any public office holder, including the President, to come before it and answer questions regarding whatever it thinks an individual or group is doing or not doing that is not in the best interest of the nation. But come to think of it, why must the AGF go to the length of telling blatant lie only in a bid to dissuade the president from honouring the NASS summon and by implication hoodwinking Nigerians into falsely believing that the NASS action was unconstitutional?What is so serious about President Buhari having the interface with the NASS members? Why, is the presidency jittery about the President facing the NASS? Pursuing these questions further, DESERT HERALD realized that there was general apprehension within the Presidency that NASS members may harass the President with such questions that he may not have ready answers for; or that he may be asked questions whose answers may betray lack of confidence and ineptitude. In any case, however, the singular act of frantically trying to stop the scheduled interface has only succeeded in further exposing the lame attitude of Mr. President and also his sheer insensitivity to whatever calamity befalls the nation; and this is sad. Nigeria, especially Northern Nigeria, deserves better and the earlier we tell ourselves the truth the better. The reality of our situation in Nigeria today is that we have a rubber stamp and compromised National Assembly comprising of principal officers that were favoured to emerge so that all those shortcomings even if they affect public interest will be overlooked and nothing will happen. That is precisely why the President after affecting to appear before the House of Representatives suddenly turned down the important request and as usual and despite the powers the constitution gave them there is nothing the National Assembly can do. In Nigeria today, there is no amount of failure, breach of the constitution that can lead to even threat of impeachment not to talk of contemplating sacking the president.  ReplyForward |
