Moses Ofodeme
The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami on Wednesday, December 9, informed the National Assembly that it lacks constitutional rights to summon President Muhammadu Buhari.
President Buhari is scheduled to appear before the joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday.
The House of Representatives recently invited the President to appear before the House which he agreed to.
However, Malami in his statement challenged the National Assembly on the invitation, explaining that the operation of the Armed Forces is a prerogative of the Commander in Chief.
“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 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 security implications in the probable undermining of the war against terror.
“Also, the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari was instrumental to the reclaiming of over 14 Local Governments previously controlled by the Boko Haram in North East is an open secret, the strategies for such achievement are not open for public expose.
“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 said.
“The management and control of the security sector are 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 Representatives operated outside constitutional bounds.
“President’s exclusivity of constitutional confidentiality investiture within the context of the constitution remains sacrosanct.”