Threat to impeach Buhari: Presidency targets 15 senators over alleged corruption

Naijawapenews.blogspot.com

Apr 29, 2018 11:30 AM

Sometime in September, 2002, during a breakfast interview inside Aso Rock Presidential 


Villa with then embattled President Olusegun Obasanjo, at the height of the move to 


impeach him, the former President made a startling revelation. While responding to a 


question about the agreement he was alleged to have signed to protect the North and give 


it special status during his presidency, Obasanjo jumped from his seat and headed straight 


to his bedroom. In about five minutes, he returned to continue the interview with a 


document he claimed were the minutes of the meeting between himself and some elders 


and political leaders from the North.

Buhari-Dogara-Saraki

The former President spoke about how he, the late Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, Alabo 


Graham-Douglas, Jim Nwobodo, Francis Ella, all presidential aspirants under the umbrella 

of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, had been grilled at separate sessions at Agura Hotel 


in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, in February 1999, on the eve of the party’s 

presidential convention slated for Jos, Plateau State capital. He said he refused to sign the 


document, insisting that he would be President of all Nigerians and not just a section. 

According to the minutes sighted that  morning, other aspirants were alleged to have 


signed – although each had to come out forcefully to deny ever doing anything of such.

The publication of the revelation caused some northern elders, who were named in that 


parley, to first deal with the opprobrium of such an ambush. Many others, including former 

heads of state, had to prevail on some members and then Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba 


leadership of the House of Representatives to overlook Obasanjo’s serial acts of 


indiscretion and constitutional breaches which, in the estimation of the House, constituted 


gross misconduct and, therefore, amounted to impeachable offences.

What came out of that tiff was that then President Obasanjo began to learn how to conduct 


himself in a more constitutional manner – at least, until 2005 when the bug of sit-tight bite 

him – leading to the failed Third Term Agenda. That was 2002.

Buhari’s Nigeria

Last week, some senators – mind you, it was not the Senate – rose to seek to institute 


impeachment proceedings against President Muhammadu Buhari. Whereas the President 


had suffered a massive loss of goodwill from the senators – in fact, from the National 



Assembly, NASS – as had never been seen in this 4th Republic, it all came to a head last 


week when Buhari sent a letter to the NASS, informing it of his approval and payment of 


$496million to the US government for the purchase of TUCANO fighter jets.

With what some have described as a convincing reason, Mr. President said the need to 


quickly utilise the window passed by the American legislature to sell the warplanes to 


Nigeria – after years of embargo – constituted a compelling reason why the approval was 


made before the request was placed before.... e the NASS. Even before the senators took 


umbrage, the House of Representatives had gone through a similar motion of voicing out 


its displeasure and pointing out the possible consequence of the President’s action.

For the now notorious Tucano jets, the hurried payment to the Americans, the shenanigans 


of voicing an impeachment move and the needless overheating of the polity, some 

questions would need to be answered:

Can the money that has been spent be retrieved?

Can a spent money be re-appropriated?

Was the timeline a 24/48-hour issue such that the Presidency could not place a  request 


before the NASS before making the extra-budgetary payment?

Was there really no time for the President to make the request before spending the money?

Could Buhari have followed due process?

Can Nigeria today afford the distraction of  impeachment proceedings?

Can the NASS truly muster the required constitutional mandate to carry out an 

impeachment?

Interestingly, Section 143(11) empowers the NASS to determine what an impeachable 

offence is or what constitutes gross misconduct.

House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Rules, Hon. Emmanuel Orker-Jev, said 


he’s not an apologist of bad behaviour but resorting to impeachment, which, by its very 

nature, is cumbersome, would be a distraction as the country approaches next year’s 


elections. “Nigerians should be able to decide at the polls whether this is the country they 

want and whether the President is taking them in the right direction”, Orkar-Jev pointed out.

Whereas there are many who believe and, therefore, insist that Buhari may have breached 


the laws of the land, their position is that pursuing an impeachment now is not the answer. 

Senator Shehu Sani is of the view that impeachment is not the answer, even though he 


believes that the money should be returned.

A Senate Under Siege

Perhaps, unlike Obasanjo, who was being told to sign a pact, Buhari is under no such 


preconditions. However, part of the angst of the legislators, particularly senators, is 


that some of them have been harassed and targeted by the state in recent times and some 


believe that not a few more may still be targeted by the executive under whose control are 


the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC; the Department of State Services, 


DSS; the police and other such instruments of coercion.

Apart from the on-going saga of the garrulous and sometimes reckless Dino Melaye, who 


is accused of supplying guns to a group of hoodlums after he reported a case of attack on 

him, Senator Sani, from Kaduna State, is also being insinuated into the commission of a 


criminal offence by the police. Sani has been invited by the police.

In addition, Senator Isa Misau is facing criminal charges for criticizing the Inspector 


General of Police, IGP.In the case of Senator Abdullahi Adamu, he and his son are believed 


to be facing charges at the EFCC. In fact, his detractors are quick to allege this as a major 


influencing factor in his support for Buhari.

Sen. Peter Nwaoboshi is being tried in court by the EFCC, and, currently, being remanded in 


prison. There are other senators who are suspected of having or are being targets of 


possible investigations.

They include but are not limited to Senators Danjuma Goje, Aliyu Wamakko, Murtala Nyako 


and Jonah Jang. Then there is the on-going investigation into the assets of Deputy Senate 


President Ike Ekweremmadu and Senate President Bukola Abubakar Saraki, whose case at 


the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, is yet to be concluded.

Interestingly, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwakanso, who was prevented from entering Kano State 


by the authorities, is also said to be a possible target of investigation.

Indeed, this sense of siege fuels a natural angst from the Red Chamber of the NASS.

Way Out

Enter the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The role of a political party – with or without a majority in the legislative chambers – is to 


serve as a guide for we. It is also the responsibility of a political party to wield the disparate 


and separate interests into one with a view to stabilising both the polity and the 


government of which it is in charge. 

Unfortunately for the APC, it has not been able to abide by its own constitution. The simple 


business of conducting its national convention has become a somewhat messy 


endeavour. 

Even as at the time of going to press, the convention, that was slated for May 14, 2018, has 


been postponed. Then there is the control of both chambers of the legislature. Curiously, it 


is the party members who have constituted themselves into the opposition.

.

The issue of the anticipatory approval granted by Buhari could have been better handled by 


the APC and its members in such a manner that, by the time the matter gets to the NASS, a 

majority vote would have urged for a doctrinal enterprise based on necessity.

As matters stand now, it would amount to a fools’ errand to continue to collect signatures 


with a view to setting in motion an impeachment move.

In addition, the perception of the NASS members as being the problem of this republic is 


yet to abate; therefore, any move seen to be against Buhari – with or without prejudice to 

some of his missteps – may meet with public opprobrium.

When such comes to shove and the Presidency decides to bare its fangs, it would be 


difficult to find many of the legislators standing on two feet by the time the ill-wind would 


have blown. This is not a call to a Gestapo-like approach on the part of the Presidency but 


the contemporary realities of the day, where court judgements about people in detention 


are wilfully disobeyed, where media trial of public office holders is the order of the day, the 


prospects for NASS members is not glowing.

Yet, it must be said that Buhari and his coterie of appointees should endeavour to always 


act in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and stop treating matters of 

national importance with levity and disdain.  A country not guided by its own laws is 


beckoning at anarchy, the consequences of which will definitely be grave for all.

The myopic understanding and appreciation of the matter in some quarters, an 


appreciation supposedly based on Buhari’s good intentions may be regretted when another 


ruler applies the same unconstitutional acts for devious intentions. That will be the day.