Reps apologies to Buhari, drop invitation over insecurity

Indication has emerged that the House of Representatives has apologised to President Muhammadu Buhari and jettisoned the invitation for him to appear and address members on rising insecurity in the country,

The lawmakers, according to the report are also no longer interested in summoning the president now or in the near future over the matter.

It will be recalled that members of lower chamber had sought presidential intervention following the killing of 43 farmers in Zabarmari, Borno State and on December 1, summoned President Buhari to address the House on his administration’s efforts to tackle rising insecurity in the country.

The lawmaker, Satomi Ahmad, in whose constituency the killing of the farmers occurred, supported by nine other lawmakers from Borno State, read the motion seeking Buhari’s invitation.

Speaker of the House, Femi Gbabajabiamila had informed Nigerians that he got assurance from the presidency that the president would honour the invitation.

Following the intervention of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami SAN who declared that the House had no constitutional right to summon the president to address it on insecurity, the president spurned the invitation.

Sources close to the law makers revealed that the members involved in generating the summon have tendered apology after the House leadership found that the summon had assumed political and ethnic colourations, while some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers led by PDP caucus leader, Hon. Kingsley Chinda called for the president’s impeachment.

A member of the House was quoted by the Nation as saying concerning the invitation that “The House of Representatives has foreclosed or dropped any immediate or future plans to invite President Muhammadu Buhari over insecurity in the country because a harmless motion has become political.

“I can tell you that we will no longer revisit the invitation. But we will be interacting with Service Chiefs and other ministers in charge of the nation’s security.

“The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its lawmakers capitalised on the motion to cast aspersions on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. What we never intended became the issue.

“Some governors and strategists in government insinuated that the House leadership was working for a different political interest. That was why they pulled the strings from the Senate.

“At a point, the row over the invitation was turned into a North-South divide if not for the political dexterity of the House leadership.

“We also got intelligence that some of those lawmakers who sponsored the motion because of Zabamari rice farmers went through the back door to the Presidency to apologise over their insistence that the President must appear before the National Assembly.”