Buhari misled to shun Reps’ summon, says Afe Babalola

Founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has said that President Muhammadu Buhari was misled not to appear before the National Assembly to explain his government’s efforts in addressing the worsening security situation in the country.

Babalola spoke at the weekend in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, after being honoured by the Akure branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) as the grand patron and the naming of the permanent structure of the branch after him.

The legal icon, who said that the invitation by the lawmakers was neither unconstitutional nor out of place considering series of killings and kidnappings, said that the President was wrongly advised in shunning the federal lawmakers who are representatives of the people.

According to him, “the reason why we are together in society is that we want our property and lives to be secured. Today, we have a crisis over security and there is virtually no day you read the papers that you won’t see people being reported killed or kidnapped. It has become the order of the day as if human beings are not important anymore.

“If the parliament invites the President, I believe he ought to have appeared by way of courtesy to the lawmakers. The National Assembly is the legislative body of this country. They make the law and they expect the President to carry out the law. I believe if I were in his position, I would have gone. Fortunately, he wanted to go. He told the whole world that he was going to appear but he was ill-advised not to go.”

He commended the Akure branch of the NBA for honouring him and their gesture towards the law faculty of his institution, promising to continue his efforts at giving back to the society and contributing to people’s livelihood.

Earlier, Chairman of NBA Akure branch, Rotimi Olorunfemi, said lawyers found it expedient to honour Babalola and name the structure after him for his “outstanding contributions to the development of law and jurisprudence through advocacy in court,” and his contributions to humanity.