Jonathan’s Impeachment: How Far Can Senators, Reps Go? Some members of the National Assembly have already appended their signatures to an impeachment notice for President Jonathan. JONATHAN NDA- ISAIAH writes on the substance of the plot. What began as a rumour is gradually gaining grounds as some members of the National Assembly, both in the Upper and Lower Chambers are threatening to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan. According to the arrowheads of the impeachment plot, 50 impeachable offences have been listed against President Jonathan. The impeachment rumour started when some Peoples Democratic Party senators lost out in their wards congresses. Feeling betrayed by the president, they threatened to shut down all legislative activities until the party cancels the ward congresses. Some senators mooted the idea of impeachment against the president to drive home their point .The impeachment threat is being used by the senators to negotiate with the party to grant them automatic tickets LEADERSHIP checks reveal that the police invasion of the National Assembly on November 20 was aimed at achieving two targets. The first plot was to stop the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal from entering the House while PDP members present in the House could go ahead and impeach him. On the other hand the speaker and his loyalist were also armed with their own agenda – to start impeachment processes against the president. Both plans were eventually thwarted as the police tear-gassed members of the National Assembly prompting the senate president to shut down the National Assembly on that eventful day. The arrowheads of the impeachment saga have listed President Jonathan’s poor handling of the economy, political affairs, poor implementation of the national budget since 2011, high level of corruption and “gross disregard” for the legislature at both the federal and state levels as some of the grounds for Jonathan’s impeachment. 63 Senators with some members of the House of Representatives (reportedly 200) have already set the ball rolling. An opposition senator who spoke on the condition of anonymity disclosed that the impeachment plot has the backing of their colleagues in the PDP. “The truth of the matter is that the impeachment notice would have been laid if not for our colleagues in the PDP who pleaded with us to delay the process pending when the Senate leadership would come up with the result of its efforts at securing automatic tickets for them. “In any case the process had started but if we submit the letter now, the signatures of the PDP senators will be there and the party might want to use that as an excuse to deny them their automatic tickets.” Another lawmaker in the House of Representatives disclosed that both chambers have resolved to work together for the common good of the country by impeaching President Jonathan for “incompetence, corruption and unprecedented impunity.” According to him, the impeachment plot against Jonathan was not a partisan affair, explaining that lawmakers from all the political parties have identified with the “cause” and will not give up until the President is “sent packing.” “I’m sure you read the reports today that senators are going to move against Jonathan. Now you can confirm that the impeachment thing is not about APC. It is a non-partisan cause. We have all resolved that the man (President Jonathan) must go. “Never in the history of Nigeria has a leader displayed such crass incompetence as we have seen in President Jonathan. It is glaring and you can feel it. Mr. President, with due respect, has shown that he is not capable of running this country. That is the basic truth”. Impeachment cases The impeachment of Alhaji Balarabe Musa as the second republic governor of Kaduna State heralded the gale of impeachments in the country as he was simply shoved aside by the National Party of Nigeria (NPN)-dominated State House of Assembly, Allegations of financial recklessness and corruption were leveled against former governor of Bayelsa state Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha. It was upon this allegation that his impeachment was effected. Former Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye was arrested for money laundering in Britain. Coupled with allegations of financial impropriety, the House of Assembly embarked on impeaching Dariye. Former Governors Rashid Lodoja, Peter Obi, Ayo Fayose, and Murtala Nyarko were not spared the impeachment hammer in their states The Deputy Governors were not spared in the gale of defections as some governors have masterminded the impeachment of their deputies. Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe survived three impeachment attempts as Deputy Governor of Abia state The same scenario played out in Akwa Ibom when Victor Attah masterminded the impeachment of his deputy, Chris Ekpenyong. Former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu also engineered the removal of his female deputy Mrs Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele in their first term in office. There are recent impeachments. The case of Jude Agbaso in Imo State, was allegedly orchestrated by governor Rochas Okorocha less than a year in office. It was the same case in Taraba State where the recuperating Governor Danbaba Suntai powered the impeachment of his deputy. Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state even engineered the fastest impeachment of his Deputy Governor, Insima Ekere in 2012 and the recent impeachment of the Deputy Governor of Enugu state Sunday Onyebuchi by his principal Sullivan Chime for keeping chickens. Point of law In the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Section 143(1) provides: The President or Vice-President may be removed from office in accordance with the provisions of this section. (2) Whenever a notice of any allegation in writing signed by not less than one-third of the members of the National Assembly:- (a) is presented to the President of the Senate; (b) stating that the holder of the office of President or Vice-President is guilty of gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office, detailed particulars of which shall be specified, the President of the Senate shall within seven days of the receipt of the notice cause a copy thereof to be served on the holder of the office and on each member of the National Assembly, and shall also cause any statement made in reply to the allegation by the holder of the office to be served on each member of the National Assembly Within fourteen days of the presentation of the notice to the President of the Senate (whether or not any statement was made by the holder of the office in reply to the allegation contained in the notice) each House of the National Assembly shall resolve by motion without any debate whether or not the allegation shall be investigated. (4) A motion of the National Assembly that the allegation be investigated shall not be declared as having been passed, unless it is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of each House of the National Assembly. (5) Within seven days of the passing of a motion under the foregoing provisions, the Chief Justice of Nigeria shall at the request of the President of the Senate appoint a Panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity, not being members of any public service, legislative house or political party, to investigate the allegation as provide in this section. (6) The holder of an office whose conduct is being investigated under this section shall have the right to defend himself in person and be represented before the Panel by legal practitioners of his own choice. (7) A Panel appointed under this section shall – (a) have such powers and exercise its functions in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed by the National Assembly; and (b) Within three months of its appointment report its findings to each House of the National Assembly. (8) Where the Panel reports to each House of the National Assembly that the allegation has not been proved, no further proceedings shall be taken in respect of the matter. (9) Where the report of the Panel is that the allegation against the holder of the office has been proved, then within fourteen days of the receipt of the report at the House the National Assembly shall consider the report, and if by a resolution of each House of the National Assembly supported by not less than two-thirds majority of all its members, the report of the Panel is adopted, then the holder of the office shall stand removed from office as from the date of the adoption of the report. (10) No proceedings or determination of the Panel or of the National Assembly or any matter relating thereto shall be entertained or questioned in any court. (11) In this section – “gross misconduct” means a grave violation or breach of the provisions of this Constitution or a misconduct of such nature as amounts in the opinion of the National Assembly to gross misconduct. 144. (1) The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office, if – (a) by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the executive council of the Federation it is declared that the President or Vice-President is incapable of discharging the functions of his office; and Nigerians React Political analysts are of the opinion that the impeachment plan by the lawmakers will not see the light of the day as the process involved in the impeachment is too cumbersome. Also, selfish and partisanship interest may come to play. Nigerians have also expressed fear that the impeachment weapon has been abused as it is often used as a weapon by the executive to hunt down the opposition A political analyst, Bello Shuaibu opined that the impeachment kite may not fly on the premise that the Senate is too interwoven with the executive unlike the House of Representatives He said: “Personally I feel the Reps have more guts than the senators; if his impeachment is hinged on the green chambers alone then I would have said they could go far. But the senate, no. They are too interwoven with the executives. They have more people who have just their pocket to worry about. So even if they want to by the time those missing billions of dollars are doled out They won’t be able to resist” Contributing to the debate Lawal Haruna, a social media commentator said the planned impeachment will not work based on the fact that the National Assembly is filled with men of questionable characters “The planned impeachment will not, work, The National Assembly is filled up with men without character. To push for the impeachment of president is just a dream. If eventually it gets to the point where the two chambers have to vote he will be removed. But David Mark is compromised. Tambuwal too is playing a saint. So removing the president is just a dream “ On their part, ex-Niger Delta militant commanders have warned members of the House of Representatives to halt their alleged move to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan, saying they would resist any move to embarrass Jonathan. President of the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative, a body of former leaders of militant camps in the region, Pastor Reuben Wilson, said in a statement issued in Port Harcourt that the legislators had no moral right to begin any impeachment moves against the president. “They call themselves honourable members. But I can say that for legislators to scale the fence of the National Assembly to gain entry into the hallowed chambers, they have lost the respect of the public. It is only criminals that jump fences to gain entry into places; honourable people do not behave like that. “We are watching what they are doing. Let me inform them that their latest attempt at impeaching the president will fail. The Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal should do the honourable thing by vacating his seat because the law says when you defect to another party; you automatically lose your seat.” Culled from leadershipnewspaper @critikmystique
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 23:21:26 +0000
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