By Torkwase Atime
Tuesday’s plenary at the House of Representatives was thrown into momentary chaos over the insistence by some Members that President Muhammadu Buhari must appear before Parliament to brief it on efforts to curb the deteriorating security situation in the country, especially the North East.
Recall that 365Daily had exclusively reported yesterday that a tough motion on insecurity would be considered in the House on Tuesday as members of Parliament of mostly Northern extraction were tired of the insecurity in the region that has steadily claimed many lives on a near daily basis.
The call was triggered by the beheading of over 49 rice farmers in Borno State over the weekend by members of the terrorist Boko Haram group. The United Nations has put the number of deaths at 110, with other nations reacting to the incident by asking that the government should bring the perpetrators to book.
The call for the President to be summoned was mostly supported by lawmakers from Borno, while a section of the House opposed summoning the president, leading to a faceoff that forced the presiding officer, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, to declare a closed door session.
Trouble began when Hon. Ahmed Satome (APC, Borno) raised a motion on the rising insecurity in the country, especially the North East region, but ommited the prayer which sought to invite President Buhari to explain the situation to the House.
The Lawmaker chose instead to ask that “the President should declare a State of emergency on insecurity”, which was supported during the debate stage by many members.
However, the consideration of the motio took a different twist when Hon. Ahmed Jaha, representing Chibok, Borno State, insisted that Buhari must appear before the House to explain the security situation with emphasis on the North East region.
An attempt by Gbajabiamila, who also opposed the move to invite the President, was unsuccessful as both sides resorted to a shouting match to insist that their position must stand.
“The President can not be invited,” Gbajabiamila insisted, explaining that “it will expose the plan of the Nigerian army against the Boko Haram and will be counter productive.”
When it became obvious that he couldn’t placate the two parties, he called that the House dissolves into an executive session which lasted for up to 20 minutes.
Upon resumption of normal activities, Hon. Jaha moved for an amendment of the motion, adding that the President should appear before the House to brief on the security situation in the country.
Though the prayer was unanimously adopted, it did not state any date for the President to make the appearance.