The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Thursday, criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for not honouring an invitation to the National Assembly to speak on Nigeria’s alarming security situation.
The party described the decision as a disregard to the nation’s parliament.
Mr Buhari was billed to address a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday at the invitation of the House of Representatives.
Multiple sources had confirmed to this newspaper that governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had prevailed on Mr Buhari not to appear before the lawmakers.
A Tuesday night meeting of the governors and the party’s caucus in the National Assembly had argued for hours on the invitation of the president to the house.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had also said the National Assembly has no constitutional powers to summon the president.
The development, however, sparked a controversy on social media with constitutional and human rights lawyer, Tope Akinyode, disagreeing with Mr Malami.
Briefing journalists in Abuja on Thursday after Mr Buhari failed to show up at the National Assembly, PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, said the development underscores its position that the president leads a broken government
The opposition party also said disregard to the nation’s parliament is a disregard to the Nigeria people.
The party also mocked the ruling APC over the dire security situation, noting that the APC had branded itself with military credentials in 2015, projecting Mr Buhari as a military general with experience to wipe out Boko Haram in 100 days.
“President Muhammadu Buhari who was scheduled to address the nation’s parliament today (Thursday) backed out after confirming to them he was coming.
“This back and front from the President on vital issue of security that is overwhelming our nation underscores our position as an opposition party that nobody is in-charge and that this is a broken government.
“Disregarding the nation’s parliament is disregarding Nigeria people because they are representatives of the people. The worrisome truth is that the President either does not know what is happening or does know what to do, otherwise he should not be afraid to face the people.
“The hard fact facing all of us now is that this regime has woefully failed Nigerians in all ramifications.
“It’s a shame that a government that came to power brandishing its military credential as a General with the propaganda to wipe away Boko Haram in 100 days is there five years plus presiding over the worst security situation in our history with no clear direction on what to do and even afraid to face the country’s the parliament to explain what he is doing.”
