Insecurity: PDP caucus restates call for impeachment of Buhari

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives, on Thursday, reiterated its call on Nigerians to awaken their federal lawmakers to the realities of the moment and rescue Nigeria from this ‘road to perdition’ by evoking their powers in Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution and commence the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari for gross incompetence and breach of Section 14(2b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Leader of the PDP Caucus, Hon Kingsley China, who gave the clarion call at a press briefing held in Abuja, also tasked members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to resolve under Section 144 of the Constitution that the President is incapable of discharging the functions of the office, also underscored the need to focus on the restructuring of the nation’s security apparatus and infrastructure including the declaration of a State of Emergency in the security sector which both chambers of the National Assembly have canvassed for severally.

Hon Chinda who conveyed the resolution of the Caucus titled: ‘Forlorn wait for Presidential seriousness 0n worsening insecurity across Nigeria’, expressed grave concern over the lackadaisical attitude of the Buhari’s administration towards addressing security challenges bedevilling the country despite enormous resources at its disposal.

The lawmaker who described Mr President’s refusal to honour the House invitation to brief the Parliament on the state of security, said: “It is very pathetic that the APC led Federal Government. in its avowed romance with lies and vile propaganda continues to demonstrate a gross disregard for genuine discourse and democratic ethos without due regard to the nation’s mournful mood and worsening anxieties, the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila had invited President Buhari over rising insecurity across the federation climaxed by the killing of over 43 farmers in Borno State and the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolboys.

“This contributes to the worsening profile of Nigeria in the comity of nations where she regrettably occupies the third most terrorised country in the world after Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Only one gate separates the National Assembly Complex from the presidential villa but it appears easier for a donkey to pass through the eye of a needle than for President Buhari to pass through the gate and address us on extremely serious security issues daily consuming the lives of our people.

“Less than 24 hours to the scheduled address over such weighty matters that involve lives of Nigerian citizens in the hands of all manners of forest bandits, international terrorists, unrestrained highway kidnapping gangs and a host of other anarchists; it became apparent that the seriousness Nigerians attach to these issues is not shared by Nigeria‘s Presidency.”

While noting that the mutual relationship between the Presidency and the National Assembly had yielded some positive impact including huge budgetary allocations for the Presidency’s purported plans to put an end to insecurity, he argued that the APC administration which assumed power in 2015, the National Assembly has conscientiously done all within its power to appropriate hundreds of billions of naira to facilitate the realization of APC’s core promises focused on the economy, security and curbing corruption.

“We are witnesses to the master/servant relationship between both arms of government fostered by the almost imposition of the leadership of both chambers by the same APC government which recently absurdly constituted a joint committee of both arms of government chaired by the Vice President under the guise of fostering a better relationship between the Legislature and the Executive which in itself is an indictment of a government unable to work harmoniously with a National Assembly whose leadership in both chambers and majority are APC members.

“This kangaroo joint committee has obviously been ineffectual yielding nothing positive to Nigerians till date while this APC government relentlessly continues its undemocratic attempts to gag, disregard and denigrate the National Assembly which is the watchdog of the nation; the citadel of our democracy and the custodian of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which this government consistently observe more in breach,” he noted.

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He further alleged that: “Under this administration Nigeria’s economy is on a free fall, entering an unprecedented second recession within 5 years of the same administration. Unemployment and inflation have reached the worst level ever in our history; the value of the Naira has not just dropped; it has crashed like their management of the economy; security has equally been atrociously managed by this administration as families continue to lose gallant ones on the field of battle while other families daily lose members to bandits, highway robbers and kidnappers Rather than give Nigerians hope. The Chief of Army Staff on December 4 publicly pronounced that insecurity will continue in the country for another 20 years.”

While reacting to the position of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, that National Assembly lacks the powers to summon the President, Hon Chinda maintained that “in a Presidential system of government and constitutional democracy the National Assembly or Legislature is the only arm of government entitled to classified information because of their constitutional role, it is only in Nigeria that Mr President prefers to liaise with his appointees instead of those elected by Nigerians to represent their interests.”

To this end, he disclosed the Caucus plans to seek judicial interpretation of the “provisions of sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which give the National Assembly the power after the passage of a resolution on the floor of either chamber to invite anyone in Nigeria to provide any information required for the investigation of any issue.

“In claiming the president has exclusive powers for operational use of the armed forces and that security is the exclusive preserve of the executive the Attorney General inadvertently indicted the President and his administration so it should therefore be I understood by all Nigerians that the blame for the insecurity bedevilling the nation is exclusively that of the promise-and-fail executive arm.”

He also argued that “Hon Benjamin Kalu, the Spokesperson of the House disingenuously postulated last week after the issuance of our initial statement in this regard that our position was the personal opinion of the caucus leader and pre-emptive, considering the expected visit of Mr President He should now learn from the unveiling events to stick to his line of duty and not be the mouthpiece of the executive or individual members of the House but that of the House as an institution.

“By the opinion of Hon Kalu the spokesperson of the House, this is the right time for this call, the President having failed to keep to his promise to honour the invitation of the House.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Insecurity: PDP caucus restates call for impeachment of Buhari