Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami says the National Assembly is not empowered constitutionally to summon President Muhammadu Buhari.
The House of Representatives had last week passed a resolution summoning the president over the rising insecurity in the country especially after the Zabarmari killings of rice farmers.
Buhari had been scheduled to address the National Assembly on Thursday. The change of plans followed a meeting the president had with governors of the 36 states on Tuesday.
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However, the AGF said in a statement on Wednesday that it was outside the constitutional powers of the National Assembly to summon the president over his “operational use of the armed forces”.
The statement reads: “The confidentiality of strategies employed by the President as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not open for public exposure in view of security implications in probable undermining of the war against terror.
“The fact that President Muhammadu Buhari was instrumental to the reclaiming of over 14 Local Governments previously controlled by the Boko Haram in North East is an open secret, the strategies for such achievement are not open for public expose.
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“While condoling the bereaved and sympathising with the victims of the associated insecurity in the country, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN maintained that national security is not about publicity and the nation’s security architecture cannot be exposed for the sake of getting publicity.”
Malami added: “As the Commander in Chief, the President has exclusivity on security and has confidentiality over security. These powers and rights he does not share. So, by summoning the President on National Security operational Matters, the House of Representative operated outside constitutional bounds.”
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