At least that’s what his aides have been saying all week. 

During deliberations on December 1, the House of Representatives had resolved that the president should visit the national assembly to explain what he is doing to stem the frightening scale of insecurity in the country.

The House arrived at the resolution after more than 43 farmers were killed in the Jere local government area of Borno State on November 28, by terrorists. 

First, Lauretta Onochie, who is the president’s social media aide, gleefully tweeted on Monday, December 7 that President Buhari will address a joint session of the national assembly this week.

After the president’s meeting with state governors on Tuesday, December 8, his Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, told ChannelsTV that the president will indeed address a joint session of parliament on Thursday as announced by Ms. Onochie.

On the same night, there were reports that the president had cancelled his proposed appearance before lawmakers after state governors pressured him to do so.

According to the reports, some of the governors who advised the president against honoring the invitation of the lawmakers were Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello and Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

The governors reportedly told Buhari that if he honors the invitation, he would be setting a precedent which will see the State Houses of Assembly summoning governors to explain every bit of policy or action henceforth.

The reports also suggested that one of the governors had heavily criticized House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila for setting up the president for imminent ridicule, given the president’s struggles before a live audience, his innate taciturnity and speech difficulties.

Since this was going to be the kind of live session where the president was going to be forced to speak extemporaneously or offer off-the-cuff answers to questions posed by a bipartisan audience, the governors strongly suggested that the president shun the invitation.

None of the governors was immediately available for comments for this story.

On December 9, a day before the president’s scheduled and eagerly anticipated national assembly address, Attorney General Abubakar Malami issued a statement to say the lawmakers have no powers to summon the president on matters bordering on security. 

“The national assembly has no constitutional power to envisage or contemplate a situation where the president would be summoned by the national assembly on the operational use of the armed forces,” Malami wrote. 

Malami who is also the Minister of Justice added that “the management and control of the security sector is exclusively vested in 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.”

With the nation still unsure whether Malami’s statement meant that the president had cancelled his proposed visit to the national assembly, Pulse turned to Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, for answers.

“We are in FEC (Federal Executive Council Council) meeting,” Shehu first told Pulse. When we reminded him hours later that he owed us comments on the subject, the president’s spokesperson referred us to Attorney General Malami’s statement.

“Thanks. The Attorney General of the Federation has a statement on the issue,” Shehu wrote in a terse text message.