Members of a political ideological based group that has sustained standing with Nigeria’s sitting President Muhammadu Buhari since 2015, tagged, Buharists have faulted a media report by Channels Television, which, according to them, has given its viewers half-truth reporting why the President did not honour the summon of House of Representatives on Thursday December 10, 2020.
The television station had, in its report headlined on its website as “Buhari fails to honour Reps invitation”, said the President’s social media Aide, Lauretta Onochie, announced on Monday, December 7 that the President would address a joint session of the National Assembly.
The Channels Television, to the chagrin of the Buharists, cut facts when it jumped the substance of what transpired between that Monday, when Onochie made the announcement, which they agreed was not false but which she also later updated to say ‘How President Buhari was forced not to address NASS’, and the television went on to report that, “At the commencement of plenary on Thursday, there was no sight of President Buhari.”
The DEFENDER reports that on Wednesday December 9, 2020 a statement issued by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), had pointed out the constitutional reasons President Muhammadu Buhari, in all honesty, cannot be summoned by National Assembly adding that the legislative arm, which is one of three arms of government of which number arm, the Executive, is chaired by the President, has no such powers to do so except he wishes to come before them and make address.
Malami had said that the National Assembly was operating outside constitutional bounds by summoning the President.
The Buhari’s supporters, simply called Buharists, noted that, again, Channels acted on social media half-truth in presenting important report to mislead Nigerians like it did during the #ENDSARS protests when it broke fake news about Lekki Toll Gate massacres that, up till today, no one has been able to provide evidence for, despite that it had caused losses of lives of soldiers, policemen and innocent citizens across Nigeria especially Lagos where mostly economies were destroyed.
A human rights lawyer and vice president II of Nigeria Bar Association (name withheld) had called National Assembly ‘toothless’ for not being able to do anything even as President Buhari shunned its summon the first time. He was again on the social media Thursday asking to know what the ‘NEXT’ step against the House of Representatives would be if Buhari finally refuses to honour it, interpretationally urging the lawmakers to institute an impeachment of the President.
Members of the House of Representatives had earlier on December 1 passed a resolution to invite President Buhari to brief the house on the true state of the security situation in the country.
This decision was taken when the House considered a motion moved by members from Borno State on the massacre of 43 rice farmers in the state by Boko Haram insurgents.
Although reports have flown following emergence of an audio revealing that the acclaimed 43 farmers in Borno were in truth members of Boko Haram killed on issue of trust, there has been no official pronouncements by authorities on the reports.
A lawmaker from Rivers State, Solomon Bob then raised a point of order over the President’s refusal to honour the summon of the House.
He asked the Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila to update the House on the subject matter.
The Speaker responded by saying the House will wait for official communication from the President.
Although only Punch has been known to have been showing affront to the black nations’ most powerful leader by addressing him, against his official portrait, as Major General (Rtd), Channels Television joined when, in its latest report being condemned by the Buharists, it said: “the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, that the National Assembly had no powers to summon the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) over the rising insecurity in the country.”
One of the Buhari’s supporters observed that Channels Television and Punch Newspaper, by their insistence on addressing President Muhammadu Buhari as ‘Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd)’ seek to present the Converted Democrat President to the world as a dictator but that they failed in that effort ab initio, The DEFENDER reports.
