National Assembly scared of Buhari, questions CBN Governor, Army Chief on arms purchase

The Nigerian National Assembly has continued to show signs of being scared of President Muhammadu Buhari on issues of national security and governance of the country. Critical national issues and public policies that deserve clarification of the president are diverted by the federal lawmakers to subsidiary authorities appointed by the president.

While the issue of national security was deliberated in the two chambers of the National Assembly in 2020, the leadership of the National Assembly pretended to be shielding the president, and unfortunately, usurped the powers of the president in mandating the former service chiefs to resign. At the different instances, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, had to instruct certain committee handling specific sensitive national issues that members must not mention or criticize the president in the reports, threatening that such reports would be rejected.

The House of Representatives is at it again, summoning the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to appear before an ad-hoc committee of the House to explain the arms purchase funds disbursed by the government as insecurity escalates in Nigeria.

The House is once again shifting attention from the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, on whose table all reports are submitted.

The House ad-hoc committee, chaired by Olaide Akinremi, had on Monday summoned the CBN Governor and Army boss, who had ignored an earlier invitation to appear before the committee.

Bede Eke was angry the Chief of Army Staff undermined the invitation of the House for a second time, after the House rejected his representative on the first day of the hearing on March 12, including the CBN governor; the lawmaker, therefore, moved a motion for their summon.

The House ad hoc committee is reviewing the purchase, use, and control of arms, ammunition, and other military hardware by the Nigerian Army, paramilitary, and other law enforcement agencies in the country.

They invited the army boss and CBN governor to appear on Monday to clarify the purchase of arms for the security agencies. Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff is still settling down to his new appointment as the issues being investigated by the House were done under the former Chief of Army Staff.

The lawmakers angry their invitations were ignored, passed a resolution summoning Attahiru and Emefiele to appear before them on April 7, 2021.

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno, in an interview with BBC Hausa Service earlier in March, said that the funds for purchase of arms were diverted.

The former service chiefs denied the allegation. The NSA office also claimed Monguno was quoted out of context.

The revelation of Monguno, however rattled the presidency.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had declared: “I want to assure you that nothing of that money is missing … the reference by it in the interview with Hausa Service of the BBC by the National Security Adviser, I think, has been misconstrued and mistranslated.”