The minority caucus in the House of Representatives has adopted the position of its counterpart in the Senate to activate relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) on the impeachment process against President Muhammadu Buhari over the worsening security challenges in the country.
The minority leader of the House, Hon Ndudi Elumelu, on behalf of the Senate/House joint caucuses after their closed-door meeting at the National Assembly Complex, said the lawmakers were ready to gather signatures to commence the process.
The Senate minority caucus had staged a walkout over the state of the nation at last Wednesday’s plenary.
“The nation has been awash with what happened yesterday (Wednesday) in the Senate where our colleagues had to walk out in protest as to the state of the nation as regards the issue of insecurity in the nation.
“Concurrently, even though we did not do it exactly the way they did it, we also drew the House’s attention to what is happening in Nigeria, most importantly in the FCT. In FCT, just a few weeks back, Kuje Prison was invaded. A few days back, at the law school on Bwari Road, some very important Nigerians who are in their youth in the armed forces were butchered by the insurgents.”
“As if that was not enough, the minister of education gave an instruction that all our children should leave, vacate their various schools. Yesterday, the FCT minister directed that all private schools should be closed. And I gave a warning on the floor of the House, advising my colleagues that Abuja is no longer safe and that is the truth.
“If Abuja is safe, why should the minister of education under APC-led government instruct that every child in every college or school should vacate and parents should collect their children. Why should the FCT minister direct that private schools should close?
“This in effect gives a signal that Abuja is not safe. And of course, we critically looked at the reason our colleagues are calling for an impeachment notice to be put forward to Mr President for his APC-led government’s inability to protect lives and property; our founding Fathers created this nation for the purpose of ensuring that nobody will suffer in this country.
“But today that is not the story. The story is a story of people being afraid to go out to even do their legitimate businesses. Today, it is difficult to even fly. No aviation fuel. The aviation fuel is no longer available and yet you cannot also ply the roads because the kidnappers, bandits are on the roads. It is very, very difficult,” he said.
