The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives has said that Nigerians should compel their representatives in the National Assembly to immediately commence impeachment proceedings against President Muhammadu Buhari for gross incompetence and persistent and continuous breach of Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution.
The Section provides “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
The PDP caucus also wants members of the Federal Executive Council to invoke the provisions of Section 144 (1) of the Constitution by declaring that the President is incapable of discharging the functions of the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Section provides “The President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office, if- by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all the members of the executive council of the Federation, it is declared that the President or Vice-President is incapable of discharging the functions of his office: “
Leader of the caucus, Hon. Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers) said in a statement in Abuja on Saturday that it was disheartening to the PDP Caucus that the President has failed to lead Nigerians from the front as he promised. Nigerians are daily and defenselessly killed by terrorists and bandits, while the economy is being freely bled by public officers.
Rep. Chinda, was on behalf of the Caucus reacting to the recent killing of farmers in Zambarmari area of Borno state, adding that the reactions of the presidency and the military to such killings “highlight a certain crassness and lame duck attitude that has for the past five years come to define the Buhari presidency”.
He said that the body language of the government is worrisome as it emboldens terrorists in the country, the greater worries for the country however, is “the do-nothing posturing and the effeminate reactions of the presidency and the military that follow the dastardly attacks.”
He said: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives has observed with deep pain the dastardly attacks on poor farmers which have continued unabated across the vast swathes of northern Nigeria, which act came to a sad climax over the weekend in Zabarmari, near Maiduguri, north east Nigeria.”
“The attacks continue to take a consistent pattern – a pattern that results in mass deaths and emboldens the insurgents to embark on more spectacular attacks that provide them national and global attention. While the emboldening of terrorists remain sources of worry, the greater worries for us is the do-nothing posturing and the effeminate reactions of the presidency and the military that follow the dastardly attacks.”
“The reactions of the presidency and the military highlight a certain crassness and lame duck attitude that has for the past five years come to define the Buhari presidency,” the statement said.
It further expressed regrets that “Northern Nigeria has long become the vortex of massacres. From Buni Yadi, Gamboru, Baga, Gwoza, Shiroro, Konduga, Kawuri, Southern Kaduna to Benue and certainly everywhere else in Nigeria, lives are being snatched by insurgents, bandits and kidnappers who have no respect for the sanctity of life.”
“While President Buhari idles in the typical fashion of Emperor Nero as our country burns. Questions must be asked about his capacity to lead at a time that our country desires robust and responsible leadership that can pull it from the brink and rescue it from the debilitions of insurgents, terrorists, bandits and kidnappers.”
“President Buhari is unwilling, (as it consistently appears,) to provide leadership to our fast collapsing country. Rather than take the proverbial bull by the horn, President Buhari ensconces himself in Aso Rock, typical of a Mourner-in-Chief, and issues press statements that make no meaning to a grieving nation”.
The lawmakers reminded President Buhari that “a true leader who is worth every ounce of respect leads from the front as you assured Nigerians that you will do; a true leader doesn’t hide away from those he leads and pretends to mourn with the circus, whilst in fact, he lacks empathy and compassion.”
“When a country elects a clown as its President based on sentiments and deceit, the country becomes saddled with circus, pantomime jesters who reduce statecraft to utter joke.”
“Our country is in the grips of the clowns, hyenas and the circus is on.
We need to rescue Nigeria from the clowns, acrobats, trapeze actors, hawks and hyenas manipulating the statecraft”, the statement added.
It further stressed: “As Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo SAN tweeted ‘if the President says I’ve lost the capacity to guarantee the security of lives and property, it’s certainly an impeachable offence”.
“Most painful is that whilst leadership is completely absent in Nigeria and the country dovetailing to a state of survival of the fittest, the economy is being fleeced in an unprecedented manner by public office holders.”
“Recall the warning by Albert Einstien that ‘the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything’.
“We call on Nigerians across tribe, religion and political party to wake up their National Assembly Members” and compel them to commence impeachment process against President Buhari to save Nigeria, the statement signed by Rep Chinda urged.
(Text, excluding headline, courtesy Sunday Independent)
