Senators and members of the house of representatives have started
collecting signatures for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari,
sources told TheCable on Thursday....
The lawmakers, who are not happy with the decision of the president
to approve $496 million for the procurement of 12 Super Tucano aircraft
from the US without their backing, had given the impression that the
matter was being resolved.
The issue of impeachment first arose at the house of reps on
Wednesday. While deliberating on a letter Buhari wrote to the national
assembly, saying he had anticipated that the lawmakers would approve the
withdrawal, Kingsley Chinda from Rivers state, asked his colleagues to
commence impeachment proceedings against Buhari.
The president had said he took the action because the US gave
Nigeria a deadline for payment. He also sought to include the
procurement of the aircraft in the 2018 budget.
But citing sections 80 and 81 of 1999 constitution, Chinda said the Nigerian law does not recognise anticipatory approval.
“There is nowhere in our law that talked about anticipatory
approval. We cannot sit down and allow this to take place. It is an
impeachable offence. There is no infraction that is worse than this. Let
us not continue to sleep. I propose that we commence the impeachment of
Mr President,” he had said.
However, on Thursday, some members of the lower legislative
chamber said they had decided that rather than initiate impeachment
proceedings against the president, the committee on rules and business
should look for a way to resolve the matter.
But a legislative source told TheCable that the lawmakers were only being diplomatic.
“As I speak to you, signatures for the impeachment of Mr
President are being collected in both chambers of the national
assembly,” the source said.
“The lawmakers are very angry and are ready to nail this act
once and for all. Don’t forget that this is not the first time that the
president would disregard the legislature in taking key decisions… the
matter has been referred to the committees (in both chambers) and they
will advise them on the way forward as regards the anticipatory
approval. But based on the illegality of Mr President’s action, they
have started gathering signatures for his impeachment in both chambers.
“Buhari had since September 2017 to consult with the leadership
of the national assembly leadership over this issue but he did not do
so. Last year, a congress delegation met with the leadership of the
national assembly based on Trump’s request to sell the aircraft to
Nigeria but our president decided to do things his own way.”
The source said while Chinda is among those coordinating the
collection of signatures in the lower legislative chamber, some Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) senators are behind it at the senate.
There was a fierce argument between the PDP lawmakers and their All
Progressives Congress (APC) colleagues at the senate on Thursday.
Matthew Urhoghide, a PDP senator from Edo state, and Chukwuka
Utazi, a PDP lawmaker Enugu state, were among the opposition lawmakers
who pushed for the ousting of Buhari, while some of their colleagues on
the other side disagreed.
“There are serious consequences for violation of our
constitution. I want this senate to resolve that what the president did
is procedurally wrong and a violation of our constitution, it must be
condemned and of course, the consequences of section 143 of our
constitution should be invoked,” Urhoghide had said.
But Abu Ibrahim, an APC senator from Katsina state, disagreed, describing the impeachment plot as a conspiracy from PDP.
Ibrahim defended Buhari, saying the president approved for the withdrawal of the money “based on national interest”.
“This is the first time that money drawn from excess crude
account is being brought to the national assembly (for approval). Since
they began to operate this account, I have never seen any expenditure
that was brought here for approval,” the lawmaker said.
“This is a PDP conspiracy. I will like the PDP to tell us which
of their governors have taken the money released from excess crude oil
account to the state assembly for approval. If this is a PDP conspiracy
to tarnish the image of Muhammadu Buhari, they will not be able to do it
because we are coming out with figures.”
Section 143 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) deals with the
removal of the president and vice-president from office. It is a very
long process, taking at least three months to complete.
Yusuf Olaniyonu, spokesman of Senate President Bukola Saraki and
Turaki Hassan, spokesman of Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of
representatives, could not be reached for comments when this report was
filed. None of them responded to calls or replied the text messages
sent.
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Source: TheCable
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