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General News of Friday, 4 December 2020

Source: punchng.com

Rising Insecurity: Buhari may appear before Reps Dec 10

File photo: House of Representatives File photo: House of Representatives

The House of Representatives has said although a date has not been fixed, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), may appear before it on Thursday next week.

The Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa and the Spokesman for the House, Benjamin Kalu, disclosed this in separate interviews in Abuja on Thursday.

Recall that the House had its plenary on Tuesday condemned the killing of no fewer than 43 rice farmers at Kwashebe village in Borno State on Saturday. It, therefore,  invited the President to brief it on the deteriorating security situation in the country.

The Speakers of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, who led other leaders of the parliament to a meeting with the Presidency at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday, said the President would honour the invitation.

The Majority Leader, Ado-Doguwa, who was part of the Speaker’s entourage, informed our correspondent on Wednesday night that the President would come to the House next week.

Ado-Doguwa said, “It is something that we will discuss at the leadership level and communicate back to him. It will be next week, definitely.”

Also, Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs,  Kalu, while briefing journalists on the outcome of the meeting between the leadership of the House and the Presidency, said the President might appear before the lawmakers on Thursday.

Kalu said, “Security is topmost on his agenda at the moment and that is why in the course of next week since we just finished today, I’m sure he will be able to adjust his programmes. I know Tuesday may not be feasible because we have the Federal Executive Council meeting. So, we are looking at Thursday or  Tuesday. The date is not yet definite.”

The House spokesman argued that the invitation to Buhari was not to ridicule the President but to seek solutions to the security crises.

He emphasised the need for the executive and legislative arms to exchange ideas on security and other national issues.

Kalu said, “As the Speaker said yesterday, we are not summoning. When we summon, we give a date and time. But this is a back-channel diplomacy;  legislative diplomacy. We are not compelling. We are inviting, and when we invite, we rub minds to find out the availability of the person you’re inviting.

“That was what the leadership did yesterday. They engaged with Mr President and instead of mandating him to appear on a particular day, they rubbed minds on when it would be convenient for him to appear and he accepted.

“We have an estimate of when we think it is going to be. In every matter of urgent public importance, time is of the essence and based on that and in the wisdom of the President, he is not delaying but prioritising it.”

Kalu also stated that “nobody is going to harass” the President in the course of the interaction. He, however, said Buhari’s refusal to honour the invitation of the House would amount to a disservice to the nation.

When asked why the President had disregarded the constant calls for the sack of the service chiefs, Kalu said, “The service chiefs’ stay in office will be one of the issues the House will discuss with the President. We are looking for solutions. It is not about the visit of the President, it is about the solution-seeking mechanism. We are looking for strategies that will help us find solutions. The visit of the President happens to be one of them.

“What will it afford the House? What we want from him is to do an analysis of the security sector. ‘Mr President what are your strengths so far, your weaknesses.  We think these are your weaknesses.’ If we believe that not changing the service chiefs is a weakness we will mention it as well. ‘Mr President what are your threats, how can we help with this your threats, to convert them to opportunities.’

“For example declaring a state of emergency on security, we will lay everything on the table for him to see, so that he will know what we think based on what they informed us at our constituents. It is going to be a discussion.

“We still engaging the service chiefs because they are still serving the nation. We can’t boycott them. If you don’t engage them, you are doing a disservice to the nation, to the citizens. It means they are on  their own and no one is asking questions. The right thing is to keep engaging  them.”

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