President Muhammadu Buhari may have backed out of a meeting with members of the House of Representatives, over the worsening security situation in Nigeria now appears uncertain.
This situation followed the antics of the governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s National Executive Council meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday.
Premium Times report that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State moved the motion for the cancellation of the President’s planned address, citing a possibility of unnecessary limitations of such invitation by state assemblies nationwide. He was quickly supported by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi and other colleagues.
Also, some top allies of the president, led by Nasir El-Rufai, had taken on Mr. Gbajabiamila during an APC national caucus meeting with the president, presidential and multiple sources at the meeting told Peoples Gazette.
They accused the Speaker of losing control of the House, saying he should not have agreed to let the president be railroaded into a meeting with all lawmakers to give accounts of his leadership amidst widespread chaos.
“The president was at the meeting, but he said nothing, which showed that he supported El-Rufai’s scolding of the Speaker,” a presidential source said.
The developments came not long after Garba Shehu had confirmed on Tuesday that Mr Buhari would honour the invitation by the House of Representatives.
The likely cancellation would now allow the president to circumvent rendering accounts for handling of national security, especially his enduring defiance to sack service chiefs who are largely deemed incompetent.
