THERE are indications that another round of crisis is waiting to erupt in the
House of Representatives when parliament resumes next Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the Deputy Minority Leader, Suleiman Abdulrahman Kawu,
dismissed alleged plans by the lawmakers to impeach Jonathan when parliament
resumes next week, adding that “impeachment of the President is not on our
agenda as a parliament and as such it is a figment of anybody’s imagination to
suggest anything like that.”
He also alleged a plot by some elements to use the crisis in the PDP to
cause division among the lawmakers. However, the Chairman of its Committee on
Finance, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has condemned Kawu for the statement credited to
him, stating that the Deputy Minority Leader had no mandate to speak for the
House.
Jibrin, in a statement late yesterday, said that impeachment is a vital
tool of constitutional democracy, just as he indicated that members already have
a number of issues that would shape proceedings in the House when the National
Assembly resumes next week.
Though he said “this statement is shockingly hasty if not altogether
contaminated by downright indiscretion,” as “Kawu is not in a position to speak
on its behalf,” he failed to counter Kawu’s claim that the President’s
impeachment was not of immediate importance when the House resumes.
Rather, he noted that there were already “a number of issues that will
shape proceedings in the House when the National Assembly resumes next week.
These include massive crude oil theft, unmitigated corruption in the oil sector
and full implementation of the 2013 budget. The PDP crisis has added to the
problems and the House will thrash it out.”
Nevertheless, held added: 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.
“What is wrong with impeachment? Is impeachment no longer a constitutional
instrument in the furtherance of constitutional of democracy? Whether we will
opt for it eventually is not for Kawu to determine.”
Guardian newspaper, reports.
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