NASS and Buhari clash over Islamic coalition

Emerging reports suggests that there is a rift between the National Assembly and President Buhari over the president’s move to admit Nigeria into the 34-member Saudi Arabia-led coalition fight­ing Islamic terrorism.

Members of the National Assembly, including the Office of the Senate President, have disowned the move, saying that Pres­ident Buhari did not seek the ap­proval of the National Assembly before the government made such a weighty international commit­ment in the name of the country. Breaking Times reports that the Office of the President of the Senate denied knowledge or endorsement of Nigeria’s mem­bership of the Saudi-led coalition. According to the special advis­er to the president of the Senate on media and publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, there was no knowl­edge of a presidential communi­cation to his principal either pri­vately or officially on Nigeria’s membership of the Saudi Arabia coalition against the Islamic ter­rorists.

President Buhari has been berated for not informing the National Assembly on his move to admit Nigeria into the Saudi-Arabia led coalition against terrorism. He explained that if there had been such a correspondence from the presidency under “Letter from President Muhammadu Buhari,” it would have been read on the floor of the Senate before now. Reacting to Nigeria’s possible  member­ship of the Saudi-led anti-terror coa­lition, a member of the Senate, Sen­ator Adeola Solomon Olamilekan (APC- Lagos West), said although Nigeria is already a member of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), it still behoves on the presi­dent to seek approval from the Na­tional Assembly before engaging in such a treaty.  

“As I speak to you, the President has not sought the Na­tional Assembly’s permission and I know he would not engage in any such thing given the economic re­cession and paucity of funds in the national treasury. But for all I know, he has not sought the National As­sembly’s approval to enter into such a coalition. “It is not like the President has dragged Nigeria into membership of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition. Nigeria is a member of Organisa­tion of Islamic Countries (OIC) and if the president is going to join any Islamic group to intervene or to bring Nigeria on board to fight ter­rorism, he still needs to seek approv­al from the National Assembly,” Senator Olamilekan said. The lawmaker, who doubles as the vice chairman of the Senate com­mittee on communications, ar­gued that though the president has the right to initiate any good part­nership with other countries of the world, he still has to get the approv­al of the National Assembly in line with the constitution of the Feder­al Republic of Nigeria. In reaction to the issue, a mem­ber of the House of Representa­tives, Hon Oghene Emma Egoh, representing Amuwo Odofin fed­eral constituency of Lagos state, de­nied any knowledge of the National Assembly’s approval of the purport­ed membership of the coalition.

Hon Egoh said although the idea of fighting the Boko Haram insurgency in the country is a welcome devel­opment, President Buhari still needs to follow the constitutional proce­dure for domesticating treaties in the country. “I know that all agreements entered into by Nige­ria, by way of bilateral agreements, are to be domiciled in the Nation­al Assembly,” He said. Expressing confidence in Presi­dent Buhari, Hon Egoh noted that he has no doubt in his mind that the president would not breach constitutional re­quirements for entering into mem­bership of any coalition through bilat­eral agreement. “May be he will still present them before the National Assem­bly for approval. I only read about it in the national dailies and I be­lieve that he will do so and when it comes to the National Assembly we will look at it,” the lawmaker added. On her part, the chairman of the Senate com­mittee on foreign affairs, Senator Munsurat Sunmonu (APC-Oyo Central), declined to comment, saying that she should be given more time before speaking on the subject. In the same vein, an international relations expert and a University of Abuja don, Prof Saleh Dauda, has criticised Buhari’s decision to join forc­es with the Saudi-led Islamic coa­lition against terrorism within the framework of the Lake Chad Ba­sin Coalition Against Boko Har­am, which is made up of sovereign states. The president had responded when asked how the coalition would work in Nigeria’s interest in an interview with Al-Jazeera: “It would be within the framework of the Lake Chad basin coalition against Boko Haram which comprises Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, and Benin”. 

The scholar  in the department of International Relations at the Uni­versity of Abuja wondered why the president would make such a deci­sion within the commission that comprises other countries. According to him, each coun­try in the commission is a sover­eign nation, hence: “It is not good for the president to say that it would join the Saudi Arabia coalition within the frame­work of the Lake Chad basin coa­lition against Boko Haram which comprises of Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, and Benin because each country is a sovereign nation. “It will be improper for the pres­ident to make this kind of decision on their behalf which may not be in their own interest,” he said. Prof Saleh warned that the president should avoid any alliance that will cause domestic instability. “Buhari should try as much as possible to avoid any alliance that will cause disunity in this country.” “The foreign policy should be pursued the way it will not cause political instability in the country. Nigeria joining the Saudi Arabia Islamic coalition will cause domestic instability because Nigeria practices different religions,” he said. “My problem is this: Saudi Ara­bia which has expertise and military personnel; they must give details on how they will help Nigeria fight against Boko Haram,” he added. 

In De­cember 2015, Saudi Arabia an­nounced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to com­bat terrorism, according to a joint statement published on state news agency, SPA. Nigeria was named as a member of the Islamic alliance by the kingdom. “The countries here mentioned have decided on the formation of a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism, with a joint oper­ations center based in Riyadh to co­ordinate and support military oper­ations,” the statement said. In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Buhari said Nigeria has enlisted in the Saudi Arabia Islamic coalition fighting terrorism, clarifying that such a step would help the country tackle extremism. “We are part of the Islamic coalition because we have got terrorists in Nigeria, which everybody knows and the terrorists claim to be Islamic,” he said.