In what appears to be the first real step to actualise the call for the impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan, some of the G-5 governors, who include Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano and Kwara Deputy Governor, Elder Peter Kisra have begun moves to mobilise support for the call.
As part of the moves, a meeting of a section of the governors was held at the Kano state Governor’s Lodge yesterday to ‘appraise the political situation’, LEADERSHIP learnt.
As at the time of going to press, some APC national leaders-former head of state, General Mohammadu Buhari, former Lagos state governor, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state, the party’s interim national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, among others Were also meeting in the nation’s capital. A source said the leaders were meeting to prepare grounds for a meeting of the party’s national executive council committee (NEC) scheduled for today.
Even as it could not be independently confirmed, it was gathered that the opposition’s move was a ‘pre-emptive measure to check-mate the ruling Peoples Democratic Party’s step to sack the G-5 governors who dumped it for the APC three weeks ago. The meeting lasted from 6 to 9 pm and it was resolved that the party should mobilise to take advantage of its seeming majority in the National Assembly.
A source close to the meeting told LEADERSHIP that the APC governors’ move came as it became imperative that the ruling party was poised to removing the G-5 governors through the courts.“There is no way we will take PDP’s legal action lightly because we have witnessed series of illegalities that the party had perpetuated in this country.“If you recall, the PDP swiftly moved against Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and removed him from office even when he was on appeal against a judgement that sacked him”, he said.
It was further gathered that the APC’s measure, meant to go on simultaneously with the PDP’s legal action against the G-5 governors is to ‘mobilise members of the National Assembly, especially as the party (APC) appears set to displace the PDP in the power balance, particularly in the House of Representatives.’“Let them go ahead with their legal action; we shall also use our new power balance in our favour at the level of the House of Representatives to ensure we commence the process to remove the president from office,” the source further hinted.
The APC had in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said it held the strong belief that the impeachment of the president is a legitimate constitutional option available to the National Assembly not only to protect the nation’s democracy but also to ensure the country’s unity.
The PDP had last week, dragged the defected governors of the party to a Federal High Court in Abuja asking the court to declare the governors’ seats vacant after they made real their threat to join the APC.The governors are: Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Magatakarda Wamakko (Sokoto), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara).
He added, however, the presidency “thought it necessary to warn that the federal government will not standby idly and let the nation be plunged into unnecessary crises and political instability because of the desperation and apparent readiness of the APC spokesman and his gang of power-seeking desperadoes to sacrifice the well-being of the country on the altar of their selfish personal ambitions.“The Presidency totally condemns the decision by Alhaji Mohammed and his party to move further beyond the bounds of honourable and acceptable political conduct with the senseless call for the impeachment of a President who continues to sincerely devote himself to the discharge of the sacred mandate freely given to him by Nigerians”, Abati noted.Abati who wondered why the APC “has cavalierly embarked on this outrageous gambit, with scant regard for peace, order, security and political stability in the country” said it was “in furtherance of its dastardly and heinous strategy of over-heating the polity and working to cause public disaffection against the Jonathan Presidency with lies, false accusations and unjustifiable indictments ahead of the 2015 general elections.
“The emptiness and hollowness of the APC’s call for President Jonathan’s impeachment will be obvious to all objective and discerning Nigerians who read through the statement issued by Alhaji Mohammed today. It was long on self-serving rhetoric and falsehoods, but lacked a single clearly defined charge on the basis of which any plausible impeachment proceedings against the President can be initiated”, he added.The statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday night further reads: “All that the APC could offer in justification of its absurd and hare-brained impeachment call was a rehash of its well-worn litany of baseless accusations against the President, including some for which culpability should be laid squarely at the doorsteps of its own leaders and some of their new friends.
“The Presidency also considers it utterly deplorable that the APC has, in its Machiavellian desperation to seize control of the Federal Government, recklessly assailed the integrity and honour of the Nigerian Judiciary in a callous attempt to pre-empt the outcome of the case legitimately brought against it and some of its new friends by the PDP.“Alhaji Mohammed’s unscrupulous effort to drag the nation’s judiciary into its murky political warfare and his readiness to intimidate and blackmail members of the bench so as to secure a favourable outcome for his party in the pending case clearly shows that nothing is beyond the pale for him and the APC in pursuit of their quest for power.”
“The Jonathan Administration does not need Lai Mohammed or the APC to remind it of its constitutional responsibility for the security and well-being of Nigerians. The President will continue to do his utmost best to achieve positive national transformation in all areas in spite of efforts by the opposition to thwart or disparage the work of his administration.”
