National assembly lawmakers irrespective of political affiliation have made a rather belated threat to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari should he fail to properly address the worsening insecurity in the country within six weeks.
The decision, it was gathered, was taken after their respective closed-sessions before the commencement of plenary, presided over by the senate president, Mr. Ahmad Lawan, who also charged the security agencies to do more in order to stop the terrorists.
However, attempts to raise the motion to that effect on the senate floor by the minority leader, Mr. Philip Aduda, was turned down by the Lawan earlier, after resuming plenary on Wednesday.
It was also learnt that even after a closed-door meeting, where the senators agreed to issue the ultimatum publicly, Lawan was reluctant to buy in and make the decision public; hence, Aduda led others in the walk-out from the chamber, yesterday, chanted: ‘All we are saying, Buhari must go’.
The minority leader, while addressing newsmen, said they went into a closed-door session, where they deliberated on various security issues.
“We agreed that we will give the President an ultimatum, failing which we will move to give an impeachment notice.
“This was our agreement at the executive session, but when we came out, the Senate President refused to inform the public of our resolution. Since that didn’t happen, we had come here in protest to let Nigerians know that we are with them. Insecurity in Nigeria is out of hand and urgent steps needed to be taken so that the issues are addressed immediately.”
Prominent senators, who joined the protest included President Buhari’s senator, Ahmmad Babba Kaita; Adamu Bulkachuwa (Bauchi North, APC), Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA, Abia South), Ibrahim Shekarau (NNPP, Kano Central) and Francis Onyewuchi (Labour Party, Imo East).
On whether the six weeks is not too long, they said they have to start from somewhere.
The senator representing Kogi West senatorial district, Mr. Smart Adeyemi, confirmed to journalists that the decision to serve Buhari an impeachment notice was a collective position of all the senators at the executive session before the plenary.
“I think it is wrong to say opposition. It was a collective decision of the senate, to give ultimatum, the only difference from what the opposition are eventually saying is a matter of semantics.
“We said that we are giving the president six weeks, they said they are serving impeachment notice immediately. We all agreed that we will move after six weeks.
“The opposition said we must give notice but we say it has to be six weeks ultimatum, they said after six weeks what happens? We said they should wait till after six weeks first. I don’t see any difference,” he said.
Meanwhile, the presidency yesterday described as ‘ridiculous’, the threat by opposition senators to impeach Buhari if he does not check the worsening security situation across the country.
Presidential spokesman, Mr. Garba Shehu, described the actions of the opposition lawmakers as ‘babyish’ and the impeachment motion as ‘ridiculous’.
“The performative and babyish antics of those senators staging a walk out notwithstanding, Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s refusal on Wednesday to entertain the ridiculous motion to impeach our President was quite appropriate and correct.
“Rather than making a mockery out of voters by trying to imitate what they see in America, the opposition would be well advised that their time would be better spent tackling the pressing issues Nigerians face, such as the current global cost of living crisis.
“Their continued failure to do so goes some way to explaining why they remain in opposition.
“In contrast, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is committed to finding lasting solutions to the emerging security threats, including those left behind by the PDP in the South-South, the Northeast and throughout the federation. In the last 24 hours, two more Chibok girls were freed, in addition to the three brought home last week,” Shehu said.
He described the action of the lawmakers as ‘headline grabbing stunts’ for which the opposition is now well known.
“We would respectfully remind them that it is those same constituents that they were elected to serve, and are paid to do so with public money.
“We would welcome their collaboration in our efforts to solve the problems Nigerians face on a daily basis. No one is asking them to waste their time attempting to impeach a democratically elected President at the end of his second term – certainly not their constituents.
“They should ask themselves: do they want to be in government or do they want to be in the headlines? If they want to be in government they should start acting like it and stop undermining Nigerian voters,” he added.
