Buhari, Wike and Malami

By Okafor Ofiebor

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has attacked Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami for wrongly advising President Muhammadu Buhari not to honour House of Representatives invitation to brief it on rising insecurity in the country.

Buhari was supposed to appear before the lawmakers on Thursday, but he turned down the invitation after Malami said on Wednesday that the House had no power to summon the president.

Wike, who spoke in an a live television programme in Port Harcourt on Friday, said the level of insecurity leading to deaths, particularly in Borno State and other parts of the country ought to have compelled President Buhari to keep his promise of honouring the invitation by the House of Representatives.

He pointed out that it was APC members who controlled majority in the National Assembly that moved the motion to invite the president to address them on what measures were being taken to tackle and end the spate of violent killings, to which he consented.

The governor said it was wrong for the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation to turn around to subject the invitation to legal interpretation, instead of protecting the integrity of the President which is now at stake.

“There is insecurity. People are dying. You don’t go by legal approach to solve that problem. If Mr President had given the assurance, saying my integrity is at stake, therefore I will go, that decision was not taken without talking first to his inner cabinet.

“It’s not a question and answer session. You go with a brief to address the congress. To say, see where it was when we came, see where we are today. Yes, we have not achieved what we thought, but what we require from everyone is cooperation.

“For me, I think this is not the period to be legalistic. This is the period every Nigerian should be concerned about what is happening. Just this morning (Friday), I heard that 16 people were killed on Abuja-Kaduna road yesterday. Look at the loss of life in Borno State. Senate has said look, Mr President, relief all Service Chiefs, which means they are concerned about the security situation in the country,” Wike stated.

The governor further stated that if he were the Attorney General of the federation, he would have advised the President privately and urge him to write a letter to the House of Representatives that he would come at a later day because of the exigency of his office.