Buhari will not address the National Assembly today

10 Dec Buhari will not address the National Assembly today

There were no indications last night that President Buhari would address the National Assembly today in response to a motion by the House of Representatives to invite him over the state of the national security.

Perhaps aware of the political implication of the motion in a House controlled by the ruling party Gbajabiamila had followed that with a visit to the President after which he told reporters Buhari had agreed to honour the invitation.

But in a meeting with APC Governors, Buhari was reportedly discouraged from going to the House, which gets rowdy sometimes.

On Wednesday, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami said the National Assembly had no powers to summon the President

Yesterday, the Senate denied that it was party to the invitation. The Chairman of its Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, told reporters in Abuja that the Senate has nothing to do with the invitation of the President by the House and it would not want to be dragged into any controversy.

At plenary Wednesday, the House did not mention an item on its order paper to admit Buhari into the House chamber.

Gbajabiamila, who presided over the plenary, skipped the item. He did not explain why the item was not called.

But the House Chief Whip, Mohammed Monguno, told TVC news the president had changed his mind.