Insecurity: House chickens out of summons to Jonathan

Posted by admin House, Legislature Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

THERE are strong indications that members of the House of Representatives have abandoned the summons to President Goodluck Jonathan to appear before them to address the worsening insecurity in the country.

Five weeks after the June 19 resolution by the House to summon the President, The PUNCH found out on Thursday that there had been no formal invitation to the Presidency, asking Jonathan to appear before the lawmakers.

Curiously, spokesman for the House, Zakari Mohammed, on Thursday did not respond to enquiry on summons to Jonathan with his usual vibrancy.

“His invitation was a resolution of the House. We said he should come because security is a serious matter. We are talking about the lives of the citizenry and we should not play with this issue or politicise it,” Mohammed simply said.

The House had in its resolution on June 19 observed that Jonathan, as the Chief Security Officer of the nation, owed Nigerians explanations on what he had done to contain the situation.

According to the resolution, which received unanimous support, Jonathan is to appear before the House in a “closed-door session” to brief lawmakers on the security measures the government had put in place to protect lives and property.

A lawmaker from Kaduna State, Mr. Yakubu Barde, had raised the issue under matter of urgent national importance.

Investigation by our correspondent on Thursday revealed that beyond the news of the summons as reported in the media, the President has not been served with a formal invitation.

A Presidency source told our correspondent that there was a channel through which information was shared between the Presidency and the National Assembly.

The source said the President could not act on any information (summons) that did not pass through that “recognised channel.”

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, had in a radio interview recently said the President did not have any problem with the invitation by the House of Representatives.

Abati however insisted that a formal letter must be sent to the President intimating him of such resolution before he could honour the invitation.

He said, “The President does not have any problem with the invitation to appear before the House of Representatives. But there should be a formal letter inviting him to come and address them on the floor of the House.

“Something can be said on the floor of the assembly and once the President does not have a formal letter inviting him, the President cannot on the basis of newspaper reports says he has been invited.”

via Punchwp_posts