The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, has said that the National Assembly has no constitutional right to summon President Muhammadu Buhari.
Malami said this on Wednesday in a statement titled ‘Buhari’s Summon: NASS Operates Outside Constitutional Bounds.’
According to him, the “National Assembly has no constitutional power to envisage or contemplate a situation where the president would be summoned by the National Assembly on the operational use of the armed forces.”
The AGF added that 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.”
House of Representative members from Borno State had on the 1st of December, moved a motion to summon the President to address the House on the security situation in the country.
The decision was subsequently taken during plenary when members deliberated on the massacre of at least 43 rice farmers in the state by the Boko Haram terrorists.
By Monday, 7th of December, Lauretta Onochie, Personal Assistant to the President on Social Media announced that the President would address the National Assembly.
The position of the Attorney-General has cast doubts on the likelihood of President Muhammadu Buhari to meet with the joint sitting of the lawmakers.
There have been varying reactions to the latest development:
Sulaiman A. Mukhtar@Samukhtar “The Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Toby Okechukwu, has lampooned the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, for saying the National Assembly, lacks constitutional powers to Summon the President.”
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