What has been rumoured for about two weeks now as plot to impeach #President Goodluck Jonathan by the Senate came to the fore yesterday following the unmasking of Senator Abdulkadir Jajere as the person behind the move.
Jajere (Yobe South) came out openly yesterday to announce that he is the promoter of the plot and insisted that as at yesterday, 63 senators had already signed the register to key into the impeachment plot.
He disclosed that two other senators have shown readiness to sign into the project, and with that, they are ready to commence the process proper when the senate resumes from a two week break on December 16.
But Jajere’s figure of 63 senators, which he said comprises eight Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and 55 opposition All Progressive Congress members, APC, senators casts doubt about the authenticity of his claims as there are altogether only 38 APC members in the senate, following the decamping of three senators from Ogun State, one from Edo, one from Oyo and one from Nasarawa.
“As of today, the required signatures to initiate the impeachment notice had been obtained. The senate has adjourned to the 16th of December, so by that date the impeachment notice will be presented on the floor of the senate,” Jajare told newsmen yesterday.
Despite the insistence of Jajere that he and his colleagues are hell-bent on going ahead with the impeachment, it was difficult to get any senator who admitted to the impeachment project from the the opposition senators and the majority senators.
All the senators spoken to were non committal to the impeachment project.
While the Senate’s spokesman, Enyinnaya Abaribe was quick to dismiss Jajere’s claims as, “figment of his imagination,” Senator Ayogu Eze simply described Jajere as a, “blatant liar and story teller.”
Eze said: “Put me on record, Senator Jajere is a blatant liar for saying that 65 or 70 Senators have signed his alleged impeachment list against President Jonathan. The said list is non existence in the senate and why didn’t you tell him to show you the list on which he said he is number four and in particular, asked him who is number 65 there?”
Continuing, Eze who is the chairman of the senate committee on works said, “Yes, there are some political opponents of the President in the Senate or even disgruntled ones, but the fact is that even if they want to make such move, they cannot even get up to 10 and where are they even going to table such rubbish. We are waiting for them anyway.
“Even the reason reportedly cited by the senator for the so called impeachment move, stands logic on its head because how can you be bringing a non existing offences of 2011 as impeachment offences in 2014. Where were they in 2011 when the alleged offences were committed by the President and don’t they even know that three other appropriation bills had been passed by the senate after the 2011 one?
“To me Jajere is a story teller We are waiting for him and his other signatories who are more of spirits than human beings in the Senate and let me put it to him and his other people that if they think they can intimidate the President or PDP out of power, they are just day dreaming because the man will contest the 2015 election and going by realities on ground, he will win. So the earlier they realise this, the better for them.”
Earlier, Jajere had said: “I have signed the impeachment notice because there are impeachable offences against President Goodluck Jonathan. You are my colleagues and being a journalist who had practised journalism for 27 years and I know these things are not new. In 2011, this senate approved N240bn 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 want 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 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 have 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, two people had called me and told me that they want to sign. One of them is an APC senator who was away doing campaign because he is contesting the governorship election of his state. The other person is a PDP senator.
“The impeachment issue is not just coming now. It 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 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.
“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.”
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