John Alechenu, Friday Olokor, Ade Adesomoju, Ihuoma Chiedozie, Toluwani Eniola, Peter Dada and Godwin Isenyo
The All Progressives Congress has
described reports of a plot by some Senators to impeach President
Muhammadu Buhari as laughable and a “huge joke taken too far.”
The party was reacting to the plot
purportedly suggested by a Peoples Democratic Party Senator and widely
applauded by some of the lawmakers during a closed session of the Senate
on Tuesday.
APC’s position was contained in a statement by the party’s National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to him, the Party advises the
Senators in question to stop what he called “this huge joke” and
concentrate on their primary constitutional responsibility of lawmaking.
He urged them to pay greater attention
to discharging their legislative mandates to their constituents, a task
he stated, they had been elected to perform at the National Assembly.
The party reiterated that the Senators
in question should not allow political shenanigans to becloud their
overall national interest.
The APC said, “The party will not take
issue with the Senate over the forgery suit and other court cases
concerning some members of the 8th Senate because it will be subjudice.
“We advise the Senators in question to toe the same line and allow judicial process run its normal and legitimate course.
“Repeated allegations that the court
cases are politically-motivated by the President and the APC are
baseless. The President Muhammadu Buhari administration strictly
respects the principle of rule of law and also adheres to the
constitutional provisions of separation of powers between the three arms
of government.”
Buhari’s impeachment not what we need, says Afenifere
Also, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural
organisation, Afenifere, has kicked against the purported plot by a
section of the Senate to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Secretary-General of Afenifere, Pa
Sehinde Arogbofa, said the solution to the problem facing the country
was not the impeachment of the President. He called on the National
Assembly to settle whatever the problem it had with the President for
the country to move forward.
Arogbofa added, “What have they done to
correct the situation of the country? It is their government, it is an
APC government. What have they done within their party internally to
make things better? We have been hearing of corruption everywhere even
among them. I don’t think they (members) are sincere with the move of
saying they want to impeach the President.
“Their hands are not clean; if they are
clean, people will support them; if their hands are clean, they will not
be talking about pension and gratuities and other benefits for
themselves, when people are hungry; when people are dying on the street;
no food, no work for people and they are doing nothing about it.”
The Afenifere chieftain charged the
National Assembly and the APC-led government to find solutions to the
problems of the country rather than taking issue with the President.
“Let them go and settle the internal
problem they have within themselves and give Nigeria better government.
Nothing is moving. We need better government; it is not the impeachment
of the President that we need now in Nigeria,” the Afenifere secretary
stated.
Also the National Publicity Secretary of
Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said, “The impeachment clause is a provision
in our constitution and no one can query its use if there is a
reasonable need for it.
“But as it is, we are dealing with a
breaking rumour. The country will look at the grounds upon which such
action is being contemplated if it ever comes on stream. For now, we
have no such thing before us and we therefore cannot form any reasonable
opinion yet.”
The Secretary-General of the pan-Igbo
organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Joe Nwaorgu, declined comments when
one of our correspondents contacted him on Wednesday.
“I don’t want to make any comments on this matter. Let the political parties make their decisions,” Nwaorgu said.
We won’t support impeachment motivated by vengeance –Ohanaeze
But the President of Ohanaeze Youth
Council, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said Ohanaeze would not support the
impeachment of the President if it was motivated by vengeance.
He, however, believed that Buhari should be impeached if he had committed an impeachable offence.
Speaking with our correspondent on the
telephone, Isiguzoro said, “If the President has committed any offence
that warrants his impeachment, I think it will be in order to impeach
him, but if it is done out of vengeance, malice or anger, especially
because of the ongoing prosecution of the Senate leadership, then we
will not support it.
“We advise the President to reconcile
with the leadership of the Senate. He should stop the prosecution of the
principal officers.
“We also advise Mr. President to stop
his ‘Northernisation’ agenda. He should not continue to appoint only
people from the North.
“In the same vein, we also advise the
Senate to tread carefully. Impeachment is a serious matter and they
should be careful so as to avoid any crisis that could undermine
democracy in this country.
“We don’t want anything that could lead to another military intervention in Nigeria.”
Neither the Chairman of the pan-northern
socio-political group, the Arewa Consultative Forum, and former
Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Commassie, nor the National
Publicity Secretary of the group, Alhaji Muhammadu Ibrahim, returned
several calls to their mobiles on Wednesday.
Also, there was no response to text messages sent to their telephones.
The President of the Committee for the
Defence of Human Rights, Mr. Malachy Ugwummadu, described the alleged
impeachment threat against the President as one “joke too many.’’
Ugwummadu, a lawyer, insisted that the
AGF, under the constitution, has the power to institute criminal
proceedings against anybody and take over as may deem fit.
He said, “I think it is one joke too
many. The National Assembly, particularly, the Senate, must recognise
that they (members) are there in representative capacity whereby their
duty includes that of lawmaking, oversight duties and budgetting.
“However, this penchant of overreaching
the other arms of government as though it is more of competition than
collaboration doesn’t augur well at all.”
Reacting to the allegation of the threat
of an impeachment against Buhari, the Senator, representing Kogi West,
Dino Melaye, who was at the closed-door session of the upper chamber on
Tuesday, denied the existence of such a plot.
Melaye, the Chairman, Senate Committee
on Federal Capital Territory, described the report as false and the
handiwork of individuals, who believed that a Nigeria that was not led
by them must not exist.
In a statement he signed, he described
the allegation “as the narrative of the attack dogs of demagogues who
have decided to turn Nigeria upside down for failing to choose leaders
for Senators.”
Melaye said, “It is pertinent to note
that the incredulously machinated misinformation was orchestrated by
forces bent on destabilising the upper chambers of the Nigerian
parliament for selfish reasons.”
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