The Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu on Thursday endorsed the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to honour the invitation of the National Assembly, saying his decision has grossly helped to douse tension.
Okechukwu who is also a founding member of the governing party said the appearance of the President would have been counterproductive, advising proponents of the invitation to be mindful of the tension in the land.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja on the decline of President to honour the invitation to the National Assembly (NASS), Okechukwu said, “my take is that it is better for Mr. President to stay away in the midst of the storm. I support APC Governors, Attorney General of Federation and all those who advised Mr. President to hold on. The heat his appearance will generate will be too much. Those who are condemning his non-appearance today should be mindful of the anger in the land.
“Most importantly my consolation is that those who are calling for his appearance and those on ambush are on the same page with him – quick end to insecurity. For the avoidance of doubt, the issue at stake is the storm over the incessant insecurity in our dear country, which the Zabarmari Rice Farmers massacre is the metaphor. This being the case those who condemn the decline of Mr. President to attend for me are patriots who are sufficiently angry over the insecurity in the land and the Buhari I know is also sufficiently angry over same.”
He further said, “Methinks as Thomas Paine stated, time will resolve our insecurity, as Mr. President is strategically and covertly working.”
Reacting to the statement of Attorney General, Mr. Abubakar Malami, the VON boss said, “The management and control of the security sector is exclusively vested on the President by Section 218 (1) of the Constitution as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, including the power to determine the operational use of the armed forces. An invitation that seeks to put the operational use of the armed forces to a public interrogation is indeed taking the constitutional rights of law making beyond bounds.”
Asked for his take on the disagreement of some prominent senior advocates to the Minister on the points of law?
Okechukwu quipped, “am neither a learned man nor a lawyer, I am a communications person; therefore I support those who persuaded Mr. President to stay away from NASS for now until the storm is over. The outrage and anger in the land over the Zabarmari massacre is so high.
“Methinks nobody, neither my dear friend Mr. Femi Falana nor our sister political party the PDP, will deny the intensity of the raging storm. Do we in all honesty want the palpable emotional anger of our Honorable Members to transcend over their rational reasoning?
“In fact, from the musings and comments from some members of the NASS, your imagination is better than mine on the vile embarrassment and darts which seem targeted at Mr. President. Indeed, only God knows the huge embarrassment packaged for him.” Okechukwu stated.
In sum Okechukwu said, “We must in all honesty save our dear fatherland, our fledgling democracy and Mr. President for security and political propaganda are strange bedfellows. No one will deny the hovering political land mines and propaganda grenades packaged for Mr. President.
“For me these propaganda grenades are neither solution nor security plan. We share the same anguish over the insecurity in the land, but let’s not forget the mileages covered since 2015 by Buhari’s regime.
“Mr. President can attend when the storm is over or as President Franklin D. Roosevelt did on 6 January, 1941 when the World War II was raging address the nation,” he concluded.
