Ozekhome faults AGF Malami, says Nat’l Assembly right to summon Buhari

Human Rights activist and constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appear before the National Assembly and address Nigerians on his stewardship in the last six years.

Ozekhome who also faulted the position of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami on the invitation of Buhari by the National Assembly, said that the AGF should never advise the President to disrespect the representatives of the people.

The House of Representatives had passed a resolution for Buhari to appear before it following the killing of farmers in the Zabarmari community of Jere local government area of Borno State on Saturday, November 28, by Boko Haram insurgents.

However, Malami had, in a statement on Wednesday, December 9, said that the National Assembly had no constitutional powers to invite Buhari to appear before a joint session to address the lingering insecurity in the country as the ‘exclusivity of security issues’ lies with the President.

But in countering Malami in a statement on Thursday, Ozekhome said that going by the Constitution of Nigeria, the National Assembly has the powers to summon President Buhari to address the House.

The statement reads:

“I have just read, with angst and trepidation, a statement credited to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, to the effect that the NASS has no power to summon the President over his “operational use of the Armed Forces.

“I am more disturbed with the AGF’s stance because the President has already voluntarily agreed to appear before the NASS.

Read also: I wrote Osinbajo in 2017 that Magu was re-looting recovered looted funds —Ozekhome

“Under sections 217, 218 and 219 of the 1999 Constitution, the President cannot carry out the operational use of the Armed Forces without the NASS concurring or empowering him to do so.

“In fact, under section 219(b), the composition of the Armed Forces of the Federation must reflect the Federal Character of Nigeria, and it is only the NASS that has the powers to make laws regulating how the President as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, carry out the operational use of the Armed Forces.

“There is nothing secret or confidential about the Nigerian security situation, as the AGF want us to believe.

“The entire Governors of the North East, and the entire Northern establishment and elites, including the Sultan of Sokoto, the ACF and the NEF, have all decried the terrible insecurity situation in the North.

“Indeed, the Sultan said, without contradiction, that the North is the most hazardous and perilous place to live in Nigeria today.

“With these, the AGF should never advise Mr. President not to appear before the NASS. It is not only moral and ethical to do so; it is also legally and constitutionally mandatory for Buhari to honour NASS summons.

“President Buhari should go and face the NASS and answer questions why his government has failed Nigerians so abysmally. Buhari should not be protected. He should not be masqueraded. He should not be screened.

“He should face Nigerians, eye-ball-to-eye-ball, and account for his stewardship of nearly six years. It is not only a duty to do so; it is also an obligation he owes the Nigerian People. And this is constitutional. This is also moral. This is also ethical. This is also decent.”

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