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"National Assembly Cannot Command Buhari’s Appearance" - Prof. Ben Nwabueze - Politics - Nairaland 3x50k

"National Assembly Cannot Command Buhari’s Appearance" - Prof. Ben Nwabueze (15693 Views)

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yns4real: 6:39am On Apr 30, 2018
By Tobi Soniyi

Legal luminary and elder statesman, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN) has written to the leadership of the National Assembly, informing them that the legislature does not have the power to summon President Muhammadu Buhari for violating the Constitution when he paid $496,000,000 to the U.S. government for the purchase of military aircraft, without the authorisation of the National Assembly.

In the letter dated April 27, Nwabueze, however, acknowledged that Buhari’s action was unpardonable for not getting the approval of the lawmakers before paying for the Tucano aircraft, but noted that he was not one of those that could be summoned by the National Assembly as provided in Section 89(1)(c) of the Constitution.

He also commended the lawmakers for their efforts to checkmate the “incipient dictatorship of the president”.

In the letter to the National Assembly, Nwabueze, an expert in constitutional law, said: “I commend you for the courage of the role you play in checkmating the incipient dictatorship of President Buhari.

“It is, to me, simply unpardonable that he should pay out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the sum of U.S. four hundred and ninety six million dollars ($496,000,000) for the purchase of military aircraft without the authorisation of the National Assembly as specifically required by Section 80 of the Constitution ‘in the expectation’, as he puts it in his letter, ‘that the National Assembly would have no objection’.”


However, he noted that summoning Buhari to appear before the National Assembly to address it on the state of the nation and to answer questions in explanation of his action had raised questions as to whether the National Assembly has the power to so summon him, and whether it was proper for it to do so.

According to him, the word “summon” is defined in the dictionary as a “command or order by authority to appear”.

While itting the Section 89(1)(c) of the Constitution empowers the Senate or the House of Representatives to “summon any person in Nigeria” he added that the president was not covered within the meaning of the term “any person” under the section because he is also the “Head of State” so proclaimed by Section 130(2) of the Constitution.

He said: “The term ‘any person’ must therefore be viewed within the context of the concept of the state and the concept of Head of State.”

He quoted from one of his books where he wrote: “The next development in the concept of a state was its linkage to the idea of sovereignty, a process of thought which was progressively developed to a point where the state itself was proclaimed sovereign. This is not unintelligible. Legal sovereignty is an attribute of government, and since the state is government transmuted into a corporation, the sovereignty associated with government must inure to the state.

“Important implications flow from the conception of the state as a distinct corporate entity separate from the organs of government. It creates the necessity for someone to represent it or even to personify and embody it, although the idea of someone personifying and embodying the state is unnecessary and subversive of the concept.

“Secondly, invested, as it is, with perpetuity, the state does not derive its existence from the constitution of the government; it is independent of it, with the result that the destruction of the constitution and of the organs of government established by it leaves the state unaffected, but this is disputed in some quarters.

“As the repository of the title and ceremonies of the sovereignty associated with government, the state has invested in it the symbolic authority and majesty that go with them.

“The separateness of the state from government is underlined not only by the greater authority and majesty inhering in it (the state) but also by the fact that the headship of the state is a position distinct and different from that of head of government, and carries with it a certain inherent authority and dignity not possessed by the head of government.

“He embodies the majesty and authority of the state and, as some say, he incarnates the state, i.e. he is the state – a rather extravagant assertion.

“The position of head of state has been aptly described by Oppenheim as follows: ‘As a State is an abstraction from the fact that a multitude of individuals live in a country under a sovereign government, every State must have a Head as its highest organ which represents it within and without its borders, in the totality of its relations… The Head of a State as its chief organ and representative in the totality of its international relations, acts for his State in its international intercourse, with the consequence that all his legally relevant international acts are considered to be acts of his State.’

“The separateness of the state from the government has tended in practice to be blurred by the union of the two offices of head of state and head of government in the same person in most countries, and, in countries where they are not so united, by the virtual reduction of the head of state to a figurehead, implying that only the government, but not the state, has an effective, significant existence. This should not be so.

“A head of state is a position that implies more than a figurehead. It is a position that ought conceptually and logically to be, and function as, a moderating agency, as a ‘balance sheet’ to the constitution intervening when the political authorities or forces seem to be out of alignment with one another.”

He explained that the concept of a head of state as a moderating agency was perhaps best effectuated by the provision in the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic (1958) and the Constitution of Romania (1991) under which the President of the Republic, as Head of State, is invested with power to “secure respect for the Constitution”, to “secure, by his arbitration, the regular functioning of the governing authorities as well as the continuity of the state”, and to serve as “guarantor of national independence and territorial integrity”.

To this end, Nwabueze argued that the head of state is expected to take all such actions as may be required for dealing with a grave and immediate danger threatening the integrity of the state or its institutions and authority.

He added: “Besides, Section 89 of the Constitution specifically provides that the power of the National Assembly to ‘summon any person in Nigeria’ is ‘subject to all just exceptions’. The exemption of the Head of State from the power is surely one of the ‘just exceptions’.

“Whilst President Buhari by his actions and utterances, may have brought humiliation and degradation to himself as president, he remains our Head of State, and should be treated as such, and accorded all the pomp and dignity appertaining to the office.

He is entitled to appear before the National Assembly whenever he chooses to do so in order to deliver a state of the nation address, but whenever he goes to the National Assembly for this purpose he does so in state.”


https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/04/30/nassembly-cannot-command-buharis-appearance-says-nwabueze/amp/

10 Likes 1 Share

GuyfawkesAB(m): 6:55am On Apr 30, 2018
Prof wey sabi book

21 Likes 2 Shares

360degreess(m): 6:59am On Apr 30, 2018
That's the plain truth..Buhari is so charismatic and highly respected not only in naija but in the world at large.unlike the corrupt drunkard....

34 Likes 11 Shares

docadams: 7:00am On Apr 30, 2018
Hmmmmmm

Nwabueze, an erudite lawyer but still a lackey to Saraki and his bunch of nincompoops. Nwabueze himself needs legal advice on where the money was drawn from. Even if the NASS presented a flawed statement to him, for such an important issue he should have removed the thick film of hatred for the president from his eyes.

“It is, to me, simply unpardonable that he should pay out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the sum of U.S. four hundred and ninety six million dollars ($496,000,000) for the purchase of military aircraft without the authorisation of the National Assembly as specifically required by Section 80 of the Constitution ‘in the expectation’, as he puts it in his letter, ‘that the National Assembly would have no objection’.”

10 Likes 2 Shares

NOC1(m): 7:07am On Apr 30, 2018
Some people will rush out to call him names now, Buhari can equally invoke the order of necessity as the reason for the expenditure.

7 Likes 1 Share

Mogidi: 7:08am On Apr 30, 2018
[s]
360degreess:
That's the plain truth..Buhari is so charismatic and highly respected not only in naija but in the world at large.unlike the corrupt drunkard....
[/s]
Hausa Youth high on codeine.


See finishing by Prof Nwabueze
Whilst President Buhari by his actions and utterances, may have brought humiliation and degradation to himself as president, he remains our Head of State, and should be treated as such, and accorded all the pomp and dignity appertaining to the office.

37 Likes 5 Shares

BENARI: 7:11am On Apr 30, 2018
Ok. Noted Sir.
6660M0666: 7:12am On Apr 30, 2018
Does this man realise that the National Assembly is a representative of the PEOPLE and that they reserve the right to summon any Nigerian, including the Head of State since he was elected into that post by the PEOPLE and therefore able to them via the National Assembly.

We should never allow Mediocrity, and possibly a lack of dignity, push us into justifying any form of impunity.

24 Likes 4 Shares

tayebest(m): 7:16am On Apr 30, 2018
360degreess:
That's the plain truth..Buhari is so charismatic and highly respected not only in naija but in the world at large.unlike the corrupt drunkard....





Did you just say a drunkard? grin grin grin

7 Likes 1 Share

Wiseandtrue(f): 7:18am On Apr 30, 2018
yns4real:
By Tobi Soniyi

Legal luminary and elder statesman, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN) has written to the leadership of the National Assembly, informing them that the legislature does not have the power to summon President Muhammadu Buhari for violating the Constitution when he paid $496,000,000 to the U.S. government for the purchase of military aircraft, without the authorisation of the National Assembly.



https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/04/30/nassembly-cannot-command-buharis-appearance-says-nwabueze/amp/
Chai this man don become BMCs hero nau undecided

The National Assembly is not even serious self. See as them they drag this matter upandan shocked shocked Are they afraid of doing their job

If you cannot summon him, he was indicted now undecided The next thing na IMPEACHMENT jarè

5 Likes

Sunnynwa: 7:19am On Apr 30, 2018
docadams:
Hmmmmmm

Nwabueze, an erudite lawyer but still a lackey to Saraki and his bunch of nincompoops. Nwabueze himself needs legal advice on where the money was drawn from. Even if the NASS presented a flawed statement to him, for such an important issue he should have removed the thick film of hatred for the president from his eyes.

[“It is, to me, simply unpardonable that he should pay out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the sum of U.S. four hundred and ninety six million dollars ($496,000,000) for the purchase of military aircraft without the authorisation of the National Assembly as specifically required by Section 80 of the Constitution ‘in the expectation’, as he puts it in his letter, ‘that the National Assembly would have no objection’.”

You are the one lacking in intelligence and knowledge here.

The ECA is money belonging to all tiers of government and hence it's consolidated in a way though it's an illegal . Having been declared illegal, that doesn't exist in the eyes if the law hence what ever is drawn from it is seen as having been drawn from a consolidated revenue grin grin

6 Likes 2 Shares

tayebest(m): 7:21am On Apr 30, 2018
To this end, Nwabueze argued that the head of state is expected to take all such actions as may be required for dealing with a grave and immediate danger threatening the integrity of the state or its institutions and authority.


He added: “Besides, Section 89 of the Constitution specifically provides that the power of the National Assembly to ‘summon any person in Nigeria’ is ‘subject to all just exceptions’. The exemption of the Head of State from the power is surely one of the ‘just exceptions’.



Nwabueze must be from the northside. grin grin


Una Good Morning jare!

5 Likes 3 Shares

Sunnynwa: 7:23am On Apr 30, 2018
yns4real:
By Tobi Soniyi

Legal luminary and elder statesman, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN) has written to the leadership of the National Assembly, informing them that the legislature does not have the power to summon President Muhammadu Buhari for violating the Constitution when he paid $496,000,000 to the U.S. government for the purchase of military aircraft, without the authorisation of the National Assembly.

In the letter dated April 27, Nwabueze, however, acknowledged that Buhari’s action was unpardonable for not getting the approval of the lawmakers before paying for the Tucano aircraft, but noted that he was not one of those that could be summoned by the National Assembly as provided in Section 89(1)(c) of the Constitution.

He also commended the lawmakers for their efforts to checkmate the “incipient dictatorship of the president”.

In the letter to the National Assembly, Nwabueze, an expert in constitutional law, said: “I commend you for the courage of the role you play in checkmating the incipient dictatorship of President Buhari.

“It is, to me, simply unpardonable that he should pay out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the sum of U.S. four hundred and ninety six million dollars ($496,000,000) for the purchase of military aircraft without the authorisation of the National Assembly as specifically required by Section 80 of the Constitution ‘in the expectation’, as he puts it in his letter, ‘that the National Assembly would have no objection’.”


However, he noted that summoning Buhari to appear before the National Assembly to address it on the state of the nation and to answer questions in explanation of his action had raised questions as to whether the National Assembly has the power to so summon him, and whether it was proper for it to do so.

According to him, the word “summon” is defined in the dictionary as a “command or order by authority to appear”.

While itting the Section 89(1)(c) of the Constitution empowers the Senate or the House of Representatives to “summon any person in Nigeria” he added that the president was not covered within the meaning of the term “any person” under the section because he is also the “Head of State” so proclaimed by Section 130(2) of the Constitution.

He said: “The term ‘any person’ must therefore be viewed within the context of the concept of the state and the concept of Head of State.”

He quoted from one of his books where he wrote: “The next development in the concept of a state was its linkage to the idea of sovereignty, a process of thought which was progressively developed to a point where the state itself was proclaimed sovereign. This is not unintelligible. Legal sovereignty is an attribute of government, and since the state is government transmuted into a corporation, the sovereignty associated with government must inure to the state.

“Important implications flow from the conception of the state as a distinct corporate entity separate from the organs of government. It creates the necessity for someone to represent it or even to personify and embody it, although the idea of someone personifying and embodying the state is unnecessary and subversive of the concept.

“Secondly, invested, as it is, with perpetuity, the state does not derive its existence from the constitution of the government; it is independent of it, with the result that the destruction of the constitution and of the organs of government established by it leaves the state unaffected, but this is disputed in some quarters.

“As the repository of the title and ceremonies of the sovereignty associated with government, the state has invested in it the symbolic authority and majesty that go with them.

“The separateness of the state from government is underlined not only by the greater authority and majesty inhering in it (the state) but also by the fact that the headship of the state is a position distinct and different from that of head of government, and carries with it a certain inherent authority and dignity not possessed by the head of government.

“He embodies the majesty and authority of the state and, as some say, he incarnates the state, i.e. he is the state – a rather extravagant assertion.

“The position of head of state has been aptly described by Oppenheim as follows: ‘As a State is an abstraction from the fact that a multitude of individuals live in a country under a sovereign government, every State must have a Head as its highest organ which represents it within and without its borders, in the totality of its relations… The Head of a State as its chief organ and representative in the totality of its international relations, acts for his State in its international intercourse, with the consequence that all his legally relevant international acts are considered to be acts of his State.’

“The separateness of the state from the government has tended in practice to be blurred by the union of the two offices of head of state and head of government in the same person in most countries, and, in countries where they are not so united, by the virtual reduction of the head of state to a figurehead, implying that only the government, but not the state, has an effective, significant existence. This should not be so.

“A head of state is a position that implies more than a figurehead. It is a position that ought conceptually and logically to be, and function as, a moderating agency, as a ‘balance sheet’ to the constitution intervening when the political authorities or forces seem to be out of alignment with one another.”

He explained that the concept of a head of state as a moderating agency was perhaps best effectuated by the provision in the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic (1958) and the Constitution of Romania (1991) under which the President of the Republic, as Head of State, is invested with power to “secure respect for the Constitution”, to “secure, by his arbitration, the regular functioning of the governing authorities as well as the continuity of the state”, and to serve as “guarantor of national independence and territorial integrity”.

To this end, Nwabueze argued that the head of state is expected to take all such actions as may be required for dealing with a grave and immediate danger threatening the integrity of the state or its institutions and authority.

He added: “Besides, Section 89 of the Constitution specifically provides that the power of the National Assembly to ‘summon any person in Nigeria’ is ‘subject to all just exceptions’. The exemption of the Head of State from the power is surely one of the ‘just exceptions’.

“Whilst President Buhari by his actions and utterances, may have brought humiliation and degradation to himself as president, he remains our Head of State, and should be treated as such, and accorded all the pomp and dignity appertaining to the office.

He is entitled to appear before the National Assembly whenever he chooses to do so in order to deliver a state of the nation address, but whenever he goes to the National Assembly for this purpose he does so in state.”


https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/04/30/nassembly-cannot-command-buharis-appearance-says-nwabueze/amp/

The East have them......wise men.

2 Likes 1 Share

kcjazzy: 7:25am On Apr 30, 2018
360degreess:
That's the plain truth..Buhari is so charismatic and highly respected not only in naija but in the world at large.unlike the corrupt drunkard....
Oga your madness is real otito

9 Likes 1 Share

roundman: 8:03am On Apr 30, 2018
What is the ECA got to do with the federation ?this nwanbueze self old age and hate dey worry an.

3 Likes

docadams: 8:09am On Apr 30, 2018
Sunnynwa:


You are the one lacking in intelligence and knowledge here.

The ECA is money belonging to all tiers of government and hence it's consolidated in a way though it's an illegal . Having been declared illegal, that doesn't exist in the eyes if the law hence what ever is drawn from it is seen as having been drawn from a consolidated revenue grin grin

See where your Lilliputian intelligence took you. ECA is consolidated in a way. ITI, OLODO, ZUWO.

2 Likes 1 Share

globalresource: 8:52am On Apr 30, 2018
We will meet at the poll
efilefun(m): 8:52am On Apr 30, 2018
But were these legislathives expecting buhari to wait for their approval over a sales that's got deadline when they are yet to even think about 2018 budget presented to them since 2017. The United States confirmed receiving the money into their abii Lai Mohammed is now incharge in USA also? All they are after is the share they would have gotten from the money.

3 Likes 1 Share

Bossontop(m): 8:53am On Apr 30, 2018
undecided
Jus tell us u pipu are afraid of wat he can do to ur political careers and we will understand.....don't come and be telling us rubbish here

1 Like

lilprinze: 8:54am On Apr 30, 2018
we would command the old fool back to dura 2019
lakesider(m): 8:55am On Apr 30, 2018
6660M0666:
Does this man realise that the National Assembly is a representative of the PEOPLE and that they reserve the right to summon any Nigerian, including the Head of State since he was elected into that post by the PEOPLE and therefore able to them via the National Assembly.

We should never allow Mediocrity, and possibly a lack of dignity, push us into justifying any form of impunity.

I can see the way the assembly is representing u?

4 Likes

maxiuc(m): 8:55am On Apr 30, 2018
angry
babyfaceafrica: 8:56am On Apr 30, 2018
6660M0666:
Does this man realise that the National Assembly is a representative of the PEOPLE and that they reserve the right to summon any Nigerian, including the Head of State since he was elected into that post by the PEOPLE and therefore able to them via the National Assembly.

We should never allow Mediocrity, and possibly a lack of dignity, push us into justifying any form of impunity.
sorry..this NA do not represent the people..they represent themselves..how can people who represent the people be far from the people.....the rigged themselves to power and Lord over the people they are suppose to serve..buhari maybe inept.. But out sinators and HOR are nothing to write home about

2 Likes

Re: "National Assembly Cannot Command Buhari’s Appearance" - Prof. Ben Nwabueze by Nobody: 8:57am On Apr 30, 2018
Buhari asslicker
HAH: 8:57am On Apr 30, 2018
This old prof should shut up, the constitution said any man can be summoned, so is Buhari not any man ?

2 Likes 1 Share

kaykaymcb(m): 8:57am On Apr 30, 2018
me for your logo for your business...For proof of my work, click the link in my signature.
Nonnyflex(m): 8:58am On Apr 30, 2018
J
agabusta: 8:59am On Apr 30, 2018
They will soon come for this man's head just because of his opinion. cheesy
buhariguy(m): 8:59am On Apr 30, 2018
This intellectually lazy idiotic pig of Biafra that the money is from consolidated revenue .

I was expecting him to explain if national assembly can interfere into excess crude .

2 Likes

Re: "National Assembly Cannot Command Buhari’s Appearance" - Prof. Ben Nwabueze by Nobody: 9:00am On Apr 30, 2018
.
carzola(m): 9:00am On Apr 30, 2018
Legal luminary that they will use one brown envelop to shout up...

Oga face your old age we the lazy youths will fix Nigeria pretty soon..
marcelifeh(m): 9:02am On Apr 30, 2018
Its obvious we're practicing ZOO democracy in this country. Such a disorder form of government were the rules of law is swept under the carpet. God Help us!

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