Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu said the invitation the House gave to President Muhamadu Buhari to brief it on the true state of security of the nation, evident by the last weekend killing of 43 farmers in Borno was not as important as the declaration of a state of emergency on security.
The House had on Tuesday at plenary invited Buhari over the killings when it adopted a motion on, “Urgent Need to condemn and investigate the insane killing of unarmed Farmers in Jere Local Government of Borno State, sponsored by members of the House from the State.
Briefing journalists, Kalu stressed that the parliament also gave the President the backing to declare a state of emergency so as to be able to use other sources and mechanisms to solve the security problem of the country.
He said: “Unless there’s a declaration of a state of emergency on security, Mr. President’s hand will be tied to do what the former president Jonathan did, which was asking for external help and bringing in external help, the mercenaries and the rest of them to make sure we fight to clear the issue of security.
“The constitution will not allow Mr. President to act in this direction and that was why through legislative intervention, to tell you that resolutions are not dramas, they are the open doors, that invites the executive to formulate policies and take positions that will help them achieve the desires of Nigerians.
“Nigerians should be proud that we’ve tied our resolutions with that of the northern governors who have asked that a state of emergency be declared on security and that’s the wishes of most of the northern state governors”.
The Chairman House Committee on Media and Public Affairs affirmed that the President had been invited so many times but did not turn up because he was invited by those who were in warfare with him.
Kalu noted that the people (8th Assembly) who invited the President before were the ones who held his budget for six months and still expect him to honour their invitations.
“You want him to answer questions on issues he supposed to use the money that you’re supposed to appropriate when you’re holding the money and you’re inviting him. But this Assembly has not held the budget of Mr. President, we have given Mr. President his budget in good time, so he has no reason not to oblige the request of the Nigerian people.
“We are looking at solutions, if he visits us and we interact with him, the question you will ask me is after the visit of Mr. President, what next. He walks through the door and we interact with him, has that stopped the killing in the North? No. He will come but beyond the coming of Mr. President what we’re saying today is that the House has equipped Mr. President with the mandate to declare a state of emergency on security”, the lawmaker said.
He also disclosed that most House Committees have completed their budget defence reports and would submit the same latest Thursday for collation by the Appropriations Committee in line with the target set by the House without compromising standards.
According to Kalu: “The Committees have worked very hard in making sure they tidy up their reports, maybe a few will round up in one or two days. But the target we set for ourselves to make sure that we turn in the reports Wednesday of last week worked.
“The members were able to round up some of the targets they set for themselves as Committees and the ones set by the leadership of the House. Having said that, the quality of the work we are doing was not compromised by the speed to which we’re handling, in order to meet up with the reversed calendar of January to December.
“Now that the reports have come from the Committee’s levels to the Appropriation Committee, it is not yet before the House as a whole. This is part of the process of lawmaking, like I have always said, a budget is an act of parliament just like other Acts of parliaments.
“On service wide votes, you know the President has power given to him by the constitution to, go the extra mile when the need arises to be able to take care of budget needs, the question should not be whether it’s being spent, the question should be whether it’s spent within the limit allowed by the law and even the question is that he should be accountable to the people, that’s a question in the right direction and that is a job our Committee on special duties will take up because if it had to do with the Presidency, it’s that committee that handles that”.
Kalu insisted that Victor Mela, a member of the House who was recently convicted by an Abuja Court has not been removed from the House until the matter is discharged by appellate courts available to him in the exercise of his rights to a fair hearing.
“I’m quite aware of the situation of Victor Mela who was convicted by a lower court of jurisdiction, and you’re aware that we have a hierarchy of courts in our democracy. And you’re aware that the principle of natural justice which one of them oppose a principle which is ‘let both parties be heard’, accords anyone supposedly convicted the rights to be heard, and that right is not exercised only at the end of a conviction by a court of lower jurisdiction.
“The question becomes does he have an appealable right, the answer is yes. And if the answer is yes, has that rights been exercised, if it’s yes, what is the outcome of such exercised rights. If it has not been exercised, the question becomes is it not an injustice to condemn a man that has not been condemned by the hierarchy of courts?” the House Spokesperson queried.
