Lawmakers Call for Impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan after Trouble with Security Officials
Over 120 Nigerian lawmakers have reportedly appended their signatures suing for the impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan following the chaos that occurred at the National Assembly complex on Thursday.
The impeachment process against the president is due to commence when the House reconvenes in December as the lawmakers, belonging to the All Progressives Congress, believe the security operatives who tried to block the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal’s entry into the complex, were following the President’s directives.
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mohammed Zakari, however denied the call for impeachment, saying: “The notice of impeachment was not on the order paper today but I’m not foreclosing that some other things took place.”
Deputy House Leader, Leo Ogor, however urged the lawmakers to shun the development as he believes the President had nothing to do with what transpired at the National Assembly.
He said: “The President is unaware so bringing it (impeachment) up is going to be defeated. The President has done no wrong, impeachment should not even be part of the issue.”
Sources also say that the lawmakers called for impeachment of Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, during the brief closed door session, but the move was vetoed by the Speaker.
Addressing the decision by the House to reject further extension of emergency rule in the three troubled states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, Zakari said:
“We have not extended the emergency rule, rather we have asked the president to rely on section 8 of the Armed Forces Act which empowers him to deploy the military to troubled spots of the country. If we had approved this today it would have been the fourth on the series.
“You remember the request for emergency rule started in May 2013 and therefore we had done three extensions. In anything you are doing, you should be able to take stock; you will be able to see whether or not that action you are taking is yielding results. We will be doing more good if Mr President relies on that more.”
“Because if we are adopting a particular style and it is not giving us the desired result, we should be able to change it. The armed forces act empowers him to deploy soldiers to troubled parts of this country for them to take necessary action. This issue was looked at critically at the executive session and we came to this conclusion.”
