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Insecurity: APC governors ask Buhari to shun Reps’ invitation

Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have told President Muhammadu Buhari to jettison the idea of appearing before members of the National Assembly to brief them on the state of insecurity in the country, sources told Dateline Nigeria.

It was learnt that the APC governors made their position known to the president during the party’s emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the state House on Tuesday.

The APC NEC meeting was originally convened to discuss the party’s affairs, some of which were its planned national convention, the extension of the tenure of the current national caretaker committee, among others.

But the APC governors, all of whom are members of the party’s NEC, used the forum to express their minds to the president and dissuade him from honouring the invitation by members of the House of Representatives to brief them on the state of insecurity in the country.

Members of the lower parliamentary chamber had on Tuesday, December 1, passed a resolution, after a rowdy session, inviting the president to brief them following the killing of about 50 rice farmers in Zabarmari, about 20 kilometers away from Maiduguri, Borno State capital.

The Senate had also on the same day passed another resolution calling on the president to sack the service chiefs for failing to contain the spate of killings in the country, including the Zabarmari massacre.

Following the resolution of the House, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, a member of APC, told journalists at the State House last Wednesday, after a meeting with the president, that Buhari had agreed to honour the House invitation.

Gbajabiamila, who was in company of his deputy, Ahmed Idris Wase, House Leader Alhassan Ado Doguwa and few other principal officers of the House, said no date was fixed for the president’s appearance.

“We have agreed on a date, and he will meet with the House to address the situation. We have fixed a date, but we will communicate with you,” Gbajabiamila said last week.

On Monday, the Personal Assistant to the President on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, disclosed via her Twitter handle, @Laurestar, that Buhari would address a joint session of the National Assembly on insecurity on Thursday.

“President @MBuhari will address a joint session of the National Assembly (@nassnigeria) on Thursday, December 10, 2020,” she said in the tweet.

But it emerged after the APC NEC meeting on Tuesday that the party’s governors were against Buhari’s resolve to honour the lawmakers’ invitation, giving different reasons.

A source at the meeting told Dateline Nigeria that the APC governors were of the view that the issue of security of the country should not be discussed publicly so as not to jeopardize the nation’s security internationally.

The APC governors, it was further learnt, were concerned that Buhari’s appearance before the lawmakers, who seem to be angry with the security situation around the country, may flare tempers, a development that could lead to hot exchanges.

“The (APC) governors are of the view that the president’s appearance before the lawmakers could lead to so many negatives, which should be avoided from onset. They feel that the lawmakers could embarrass the president during his presentation.

“They’re also of the view that a matter as sensitive as security shouldn’t be discussed publicly in order not to put the entire country in danger. The president, however, did not immediately respond to the governors concern,” the source said.

Another source said with the way Members of Parliament (MPs) were going about the matter, they may heckle and boo the president during the presentation, which would not augur well for the administration’s image.

“All of them (APC governors) were vehemently against it. They told the president emphatically that he should not honour the invitation of the lawmakers. That it may turn out to be one of the greatest low points of his administration,” said our second source.

It was gathered that the president kept mum after the APC governors made their position known, although he may have sided with them.

APC govs meet party’s Reps on same matter

Not satisfied, the APC governors resolved to meet with their party members in the lower chamber to discuss the matter.

Dateline Nigeria gathered that a meeting between the governors and the APC Reps lasted into the night on Tuesday at the premises of the House of Representatives.

Although the outcome of the meeting was not clear at the time of publishing this story, it was learnt that the APC governors made frantic efforts to make their party’s lawmakers see the danger of allowing the president to appear before them and make revelations on insecurity.

Earlier in the day, Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, told journalists in Owerri, the state capital, that the leadership of the House should explore ways of meeting with the president on the matter rather than having him appear publicly in the chamber to discuss issues of insecurity.

Senator Uzodinma said after meeting the president, the House leadership could brief other members at the closed session on the outcome of their meeting with the president.

Rowdy session during debate

Dateline Nigeria recalls that during the debate on the motion that led to the invitation extended to the president on December 1, there was rowdiness, which led to hot exchanges among the lawmakers.

The motion was sponsored by an APC member from Borno State, Satomi Ahmed and nine other members from the state.

However, one of the co-sponsors of the motion, Ahmad Jaha, also an APC member from Borno State, observed that one of the prayers agreed in the original motion was to invite the president to brief the House on the general state of insecurity in the country.

His observation led to the bedlam that forced Speaker Gbajabiamila to call for a closed session, which lasted for several hours, after which Jaha was called upon to amend the prayers of the motion for the House to invite the president.

His amendment got unanimous support of the lawmakers that day.

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