Senator Alkali Jajere (Yobe South) spoke after the Senate adjourned plenary till December 16 to enable lawmakers attend the primaries of their political parties.
The senators backing the plan have listed 14 “impeachable offences” against the President.
But Senator Ayogu Eze said yesterday that Jajere was “day-dreaming” and that the impeachment plan would not see the light of day.
Senator Sahaabi Yau ( Zamfara North) warned that the Senate could ill-afford the distraction associated with impeachment.
Jajere, one of the senators to have endorsed the impeachment notice, is number four on the list of 63 senators supporting the plan.
He said: “I have signed the impeachment notice because there are impeachable offences against President Jonathan.
“You are my colleagues and being a journalist who practised journalism for 27 years, I know these things are not new.
“ In 2011, this Senate approved N240billion as subsidy fund but the same government spent N1.7trn, which is a clear breach of the constitution, clear breach of the Appropriation Act.
“The business of government is to curtail excesses but this government has shown that it is incurably deficient in handling the situations in this country.
“That government cannot say it wants to continue. The President should have even resigned without waiting for him to be impeached.
“The duty of the legislature is to act as a check and balance because it is the most important symbol of democracy.
“If you don’t have the legislature, you don’t have democracy because every other arm of government exists even when there is no democracy. It is only the legislature that makes a democracy, a government.
“As at last week, 63 of us had signed up for the impeachment. My signature was the fourth but I can confirm to you that we have 63 signatures but after the session today (yesterday), two people called me and told me that they want to sign.
“One of them is an APC senator who was away campaigning because he is contesting the governorship election. The other is a PDP senator.
“The impeachment issue is not just coming now. It is also a process that started early in the year but there was a hiccup but today, there are issues that have triggered the National Assembly to do what it should do.
“No matter what the time, it is a three-legged issue. The National Assembly will now have to initiate the process and then, submit that process to the judiciary.
“The judiciary will form a committee through the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN); the National Assembly will carry out the verification of the committee and conclude the remaining process.
“The National Assembly will soon conclude our own side and submit the notice to the judiciary.
“As of today, the required signatures to initiate the impeachment notice had been obtained.
”Senate has adjourned to the 16th. By that date, the impeachment notice will be presented on the floor of the senate.
“Before the end of today, I can assure you that the list will swell up to 70.
“It is on the impeachment day that we need two-third of the members to carry out the exercise, but we need only one-third, which we already have, to initiate the process.
“It is just a matter of one day sitting. We will just push it before the two chambers.
But Ayogu Eze insisted that there was no impeachment notice in the Senate.
The Enugu North lawmaker noted that impeachment of Jonathan was only in the imagination of those who were spreading the story.
Eze said: “There is no impeachment notice in the Senate.
“It is in the imagination of those who are writing about it and we challenge anybody who thinks that he can impeach the President to meet us on the floor.
“We challenge anybody who is interested and who thinks he has the vote to impeach the President to meet us on the floor.
“We don’t want any distraction at this period when the country is going through election and we have serious challenges.
“If it is a joke, it is a joke carried too far. I have been very present in the chamber since I got here in 2007.
“If anything is happening in that chamber, I will know but I can tell you, there is nothing like that (impeachment.)
“What is annoying is that some people sneak around and incite journalists to write falsehood.
“If they are serious, they should bring it to the floor. It is not something that should be reported in the papers alone, they should bring it to the floor; we are waiting.
“They are not more than three or four people going about with the impeachment story.
“To me, Jajere is a story teller. We are waiting for him and his other signatories who are more spirits than human beings in the Senate.
“And let me put it to him and his other signatories that if they think that they can intimidate the President out of power or PDP out of power they are just day dreaming because the man will contest the 2015 elections and, going by realities on the ground, he will win. So the earlier they realise this, the better for them.”
Senator Yau described the planned impeachment as not only a distraction but a waste of resources and energy.
“Maybe some people are doing it underground but nobody has contacted me on the issue.
“For now it is a rumour. The process is cumbersome, even if there is need for that; how are we going to finish it?”
No comments:
Post a Comment