By Gift Chapi Odekina
People Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives yesterday threatend to commence impeachment moves against President Muhamadu Buhari if he to squarely address insecurity and corruption cases at the EFCC and NDDC.
This was contained in a statement by Hon. Kingsley Chinda on behalf of the PDP caucus made available to journalist in Abuja.
According to Him. Chinda, it was too glaring that there was deliberate and calculated blackmail by the executive to ridicule the National Assembly and bring the parliament to public odium.
“Further, and in light of the foregoing, we give the Executive four weeks to provide security to Nigerians and commence proper cleaning of the embarrassing and notorious corruption cases (EFCC and NDDC) or we shall revert to the relevant sections of the constitution and commence impeachment proceedings in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.
He said that “the odious events of the past few weeks, chiefly orchestrated by unconscionable officials of the Executive arm of government who continue to show disrespect for the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the ethos, notions and governance practices that shape constitutional democracy, underscore the blackmail.
“Recall three of several events of the past few weeks. On Thursday 16th July 2020, a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour walked out on the House Committee on Diaspora unprovoked.
“Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour, who appeared before the Joint Ad-Hoc Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity walked out on the Committee over disagreement that arose between him and the Committee on two specific questions.
“A few days ago, the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Daniel Pondei, walked out on the Committee of the House of Representatives charged with the responsibility of investigating the financial scandal that has rocked the Commission. Again, regardless of his reasons, a walkout on the Parliament is inexcusable.
“The three arms of government are empowered to work in sync, within the bounds of the basic law, and deliver on the responsibilities and mandates assigned to them by the Constitution. No one arm is superior to the other.
“However, the Executive arm has gone about itself like the Leviathan, taking the legislature and judiciary prisoners.
“This should not be so in a constitutional democracy in which the Constitution is held out as inviolate and inviolable.
“To hijack other arms of government, supplant them into obsequious rubber stamps arms, is to subvert the Constitution.
“If the ‘totalizing’ and unconscionable behaviours of members of the Executive arm enhance governance in our country, our position here would have been made tenuous by the fact of the good governance that their misbehaviours enthrone; but it is not the case”.
Chinda added that there was a total collapse of all governance and structural systems in the country due to bad or near absence of governance.
“We groan under a government where armed robbers have now seized our highways; operatives of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Forces have taken over the streets of our towns and cities, killing and maiming Nigerian youths. Worse still, security is at its lowest ebb.
“Terrorists, kidnappers and bandits have taken over vast ungoverned swathes of our country.
“Katsina, the home state of the Commander-in- Chief is on its knees. In fact, everywhere is unsafe in our country.
“The internal security of the country has been compromised as Boko Haram continues to inflict violence and death on Nigerians, while President Buhari continues to sound like the broken record.
“The behaviours of appointees of the Executive arm are mere smokescreens to create a diversion from high level of corruption of the executive arm.
“This is a clarion call on the Leadership of NASS to take back its independence from the Executive and desist from making such statements as “I will approve whatever GMB asks for”; “better to be a rubber stamp and get what we want.
“The institution of the National Assembly, made up of its members, is higher and bigger than the members themselves; the institution of the National Assembly remains the symbol of democracy; and its independence should not be negotiated under any circumstance whatsoever.
“We cannot as Members of the PDP Caucus, watch from the side-lines as if nothing is happening when the tenets of democracy are being subverted and the Constitution desecrated.
“The snub of the National Assembly by the Executive and the unconscionable and obsequious behaviours of appointees of Executive arm have to stop forthwith,” ,Chinda said.
