PDP Crisis: National Assembly may Impeach Jonathan –Lawmaker
By Busolami Idowu
The crisis rocking the ruling party has been described as a national problem beyond a mere “internal crisis” as stated in some quarters. The assertion is contained in a statement credited to the chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, while faulting the position of the deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Samaila Kawu, that they were not considering the impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan.
According to Jibrin, that the House would choose to impeach the president as a result of the crisis in PDP is not within the power of Kawu to decide. “With due respect to him, this statement is shockingly hasty, if not altogether contaminated by downright indiscretion. Hon. Kawu is not the authorised spokesman of the House, so he is not in a position to speak on its behalf. That responsibility is reserved for somebody else, who, as far as the world knows, has up until this moment not made any public statement with regard to the intra-party feud within the PDP.”
According to him, “When a ruling party begins to toe the path of self-destruction in a manner that clearly threatens the unity of Nigeria, it is simplistic for anyone to reduce such a crisis to an internal problem that should be left for the party alone to deal with.
Jubrin further stated that “A majority of us members of the PDP in the National Assembly stand solidly behind the Kawu Baraje faction of the party during this era of unbridled tyranny. This decision is founded on our belief in justice, equity, fairness and total disdain for impunity and any act that tends to relegate our great party to the fiefdom of despotic political mandarins.”
He noted that the National Assembly had always exhibited an unprecedented team spirit and cohesion since the inception of the 7th National Assembly and that it was not about to shed “this highly treasured character at this crucial hour”. To Jubrin, impeachment was a constitutional instrument in the furtherance of constitutional democracy and he added that whether the lawmakers would opt for it eventually was not for Hon. Kawu to determine.
