HeadlineMove to Impeach Buhari Suffers Setback

Move to Impeach Buhari Suffers Setback

August 07, (THEWILL) – The popular theory credited to the founder of Marxism, Karl Marx, that history repeats itself first as a tragedy and second as farce, is about to play out in the Nigerian political scene as some members of the National Assembly have threatened to serve an impeachment notice on President Muhammadu Buhari over the worsening insecurity in the country.

This is because for the second time in the chequered history of democracy in the country, an impeachment notice is being waved at the President by the senior lawmakers.

Like in 2002 when the Senate under the leadership of Anyim Pius Anyim tried unsuccessfully to impeach the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, “for influencing the removal of several presiding officers of the 4th Senate,” according to Anyim, the 9th Senate under Senator Ahmad Lawan had to wait for many months to focus attention on insecurity, which has ran riot all over the country until it landed smack on their doorsteps in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, where they all live.

In the many months that it took terrorists to migrate from their enclave in the northeastern states of Adamawa, Yobe and particularly Borno, where Boko Haram and ISWAP held sway, to Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina States in the North-West geopolitical zone and Niger State in the North-Central, as well as parts of the South-West and South-East, only a few concerned voices like those of Senator Smart Adeyemi tried with negligible success to rally a united front in the Senate.

With countless number of lives lost, properties destroyed and many Nigerians suffering and dying for months in the terrorists’ den until ransoms were paid, it took the attacks in Abuja, first on the Kuje Correctional Centre and President Buhari’s convoy, then the killing of some officers of the Presidential Guard Brigade and recent threats on the lives of Buhari and Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, as well as on the lives of the senior lawmakers, to move them to collective action.

“The question you ask about this impeachment move by the lawmakers is about timing. Why now?” Ayo Olukotun, professor of political scientist, media scholar and Head of the Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona Professorial Chair in Governance, Department of Political Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State told THEWILL on Friday.

He said, “It is coming a little too late. It shows that many of the lawmakers do not go to their constituencies so they would know the magnitude of the problem posed by insecurity. I am not saying whether or not President Buhari can be impeached. I am saying that for too long he has been an absentee President, even when terrorists say they want to kidnap him, he did not know until Governor el-Rufai had to tell him!”

The tragedy of the matter is that lawmakers, who were elected to legislate for the general welfare of the people and to hold the executive accountable for neglecting its constitutional mandate to provide security for lives and property, had to wait until, “this frightening attack on Abuja is making life unsafe for everybody,” as Senate President Lawan put it while meeting with security Chiefs on Thursday at the National Assembly.

“That is why I think it is more of nuances. What is called symbolism in politics,” said Prof Olukotun.

Investigation by THEWILL shows that although the pre-impeachment 9th Senate in 2022 is a far cry from the 4th Senate of 2002 when a similar impeachment made the headlines, the current Senate leadership is worried by the development. For someone who recently suffered political setbacks, including the inability to secure a return ticket to the Senate after losing a presidential bid, Senator Lawan is said to be uneasy over this new threat to what is left of his political career.

Compared to the Senator Anyim-led Senate, things are shaky under Senate President Lawan’s leadership, particularly as many aggrieved senators on the governing party’s platform are still threatening to defect over its failure to address their grievances to get return tickets. While in 2002, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the only political party of reckoning in the country, controlled 85 out of 109 senators and 260 out of 360 representatives, the current National Assembly is currently under a simple majority held by the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), with 64 Senators to PDP’s 40 and one apiece to Labour Party and All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and two to the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

When the impeachment threat reared its head a fortnight ago, the leadership of the Senate tried to make it look like the threat was posed by the minority PDP senators, who made a big media show out of it by chanting, “Buhari Must go.” But when the story leaked that the majority of the senators in a bi-partisan move was rallying to the call to impeach Buhari after a close door session held at the National Assembly, Lawan swung into action.

The Senate broke for a seven- week recess. And then, he led the principal officers to a meeting with the security chiefs to map out strategies to tame the worsening insecurity, believing that by the time the Senators would convene from their recess on September 20, 2022, tempers would have cooled down.

To show how things were working according to Lawan’s game plan, one of the impeachment inclined senators who chanted, “Buhari Must Go!” two Wednesdays ago, just before the National Assembly went on recess, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, told journalists in Abuja, “We resolved that if we come back on September 20 and discover that the situation is still the same, with no appreciable steps taken, we will impeach him.”

So far, things appear to be improving faster than expected. Since the interface between the Senate leadership and the Chiefs of security, the Air Force and Army have regained their old devastating self, taking the battle to the terrorists with vengeance.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, approved the immediate appointment of and redeployment of new Air Officers Commanding, reminding the officers of the work in line with the reviewed NAF counter terrorism and counterinsurgency strategy. In their renewed strategy, the Nigerian Army took the battle to terrorists and kidnappers in Nasarawa, Kaduna and Plateau States.

CONDITIONS FOR IMPEACHMENT

Constitutional lawyer, Mack Ogbamosa, told THEWILL that even though the threatening senators may claim to have grounds for their action, the two ways to remove the president may make the whole process cumbersome and a near impossibility.

He said, “The two ways to remove a president are either through impeachment as spelt out in Section 141 (2,3,4,5,6,7,8, 9) of the 1999 Constitution and on grounds of incapacitation as spelt out in Section 144.

“From what we have seen so far in the country, impeachment is more of a political tool. Recall that in the second republic, Governor Balarabe Musa of Kaduna State was impeached by lawmakers in the state on political grounds.

“The governor was a member of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), while the majority of the lawmakers were members of the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN), who refused to grant the requests of the governor because of party differences.”

CONSTITUTIONAL GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT

According to Ogbamosa, sections of the Section that deals with impeachment of the Nigerian President are S. 143(2), which provides that “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 the 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.”

S. 143(3) which provides that “within 14 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.”

S. 143(4) then provides that “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 members of each house of the National Assembly.”

S. 143(5) went further thus: “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 any members of any public service, legislative house or political party, to investigate the allegation as provided in this section.”

S.143 (6) provides that “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.”

S.143 (7) goes ahead to provide that: “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.”

S.143(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.”

S. 143(9) provides thus: “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, each House of 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.”

Harping on the Constitutional provisions that make the process of impeachment of a Nigerian president cumbersome and a near impossibility, Professor Olukotun also listed some other factors that may make the process a mirage.

He asked, “Can the senators get the number? Next, consider the ripple effect of impeaching a Northern president with a Vice President from the South-West. Then consider the timing. President Buhari has entered what the Americans call lame duck presidency. Now the National Assembly is in recess. By the time the members come from recess on September 20, the election season would have kicked off. They would not have the time to carry out the impeachment.

“Then the presidency has enormous powers that it can use to divide the protesting senators. Anyway, if they do it would that solve the problem?”

Called for the reaction of his party, the National Publicity of the APC, Felix Morka, said he was about to travel and asked that the questions be sent to his phone. As at the time of going to press 18 hours later, he had not replied our message.

Morka’s PDP counterpart, Deji Ologunagba, did not answer his phone.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Comrade Arambabi Abayomi, was more forthcoming. He told this newspaper that the LP’s position on the issue is one of studied observation.

“The move is okay, if the motive is about good governance. But, unfortunately, it is all about politics. The APC, which has a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives, is complicit in the mismanagement of the country with worsened insecurity, depreciation of the Naira, fallen education as epitomized by ASUU strike for the past five months. It is either they are up to some game or they are trying to frustrate the great change that is coming to this country in 2023 by wanting to instigate a crisis that may scuttle the elections. Unfortunately, they would not succeed. Nigerians want from the old ways and they would get it through the ballot in 2023, not impeachment.”

Attempts to reach the senators, mostly from security devastated parts of the country like Kaduna, Borno, Kogi and Niger States proved unsuccessful as Senator Uba Sani, representing Kaduna Central, did not reply to questions routed through his media aide, Emmanuel Ado, just as Senator Ali Ndume from Borno North did not pick his call. Senator Smart Adeyemi, representing Kogi West, declined to comment on the development.

Senate spokesperson, Senator Bashir Ajibola, did not pick calls to his cell phone.

In their reactions to the development, media assistants to President Buhari, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, condemned the action of the opposition senators .

Adesina said, “I think the impeachment was just bravado and sadly, security is not something you subject to bravado. You don’t begin to issue flippant ultimatums in something that is a matter of life and death.”

Shehu said, “The performative and babyish antics of those senators staging a walkout notwithstanding, Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s refusal on Wednesday to entertain the ridiculous motion to impeach our President was quite appropriate and correct.”

The 2002 impeachment attempt failed because, according to former military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, former heads of government and stakeholders intervened after weighing the impact the impeachment would have on the polity. A similar farce is about to be re-enacted this year, “because the whole thing is a muddle, with government hesitating to act until terrorists are about to take over Abuja,” said Prof Olukotun.

About the Author

Homepage | Recent Posts

Amos Esele is the Deputy Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.

Amos Esele, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Amos Esele is the Deputy Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.

More like this
Related

Dates Confirmed For CAF Champions League, Confederation Cup Finals

March 28, (THEWILL)- The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF)...

Binance Executives Sue ONSA, EFCC, Seek Enforcement Of Fundamental Rights

March 28, (THEWILL)- Detained Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, a...

Newcastle’s Tonali Charged With Misconduct Over Betting Allegations

March 28, (THEWILL)- Newcastle United's Sandro Tonali has been...