The All Progressives Congress has called on the
National Assembly to immediately commence
the process of impeaching President Goodluck
Jonathan for alleged gross misconduct.
It said in a statement on Sunday by its
Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, that Jonathan’s impeachment
would save Nigeria from imminent collapse.
But the Presidency warned the APC and others,
who it said were bent on plunging the nation
into political instability, to be ready for the
consequences of treasonable action.
The opposition party, however, said it made
the call with a high sense of responsibility
and strong belief that the impeachment of the
President was a legitimate constitutional option
available to the National Assembly not only to
protect the nation’s democracy, but to ensure
its unity.
It explained that it based the call for
Jonathan’s impeachment on the dangerous
drifting of the country.
The APC added that there was a total failure of
leadership, insecurity, unprecedented
corruption, impunity, massive unemployment
and hunger in the country.
The statement reads in part, ‘’Since the raison
d’etre of any government is the security and
welfare of the citizenry, and the present
administration has failed to live up to the
justification of its existence, there can be no
other definition of gross misconduct but that.
“Therefore, the time has come for the head of
that government, on whose desk the buck
stops, to be removed through the provisions
stipulated in the 1999 Constitution. This is the
patriotic thing to do.”
The APC warned that if the National Assembly
failed to act very fast, it would share with
the “clueless and feckless” Jonathan
administration, the blame for dashing the
hopes of millions of Nigerians, especially the
youth.
The party said it was necessary for anyone who
might say the call for the impeachment of the
President was outlandish to remember that all
it would take to torpedo the current democracy
was “for this increasingly-paranoid government
to get a pliant judge to put a judicial stamp on
just one of its litany of illegalities.”
The party also wondered why the PDP could
go to court to challenge the defection of five of
its governors.
It recalled that an attempt by the ruling party
to declare the seat of the then Vice-President
Atiku Abubakar vacant was rejected by the
Supreme Court, when he defected to the then
Action Congress of Nigeria.
It wondered what could have been the motive
behind the latest action of the PDP.
The APC said, ‘’What then can be the sole
motive behind the PDP’s action? To plunge
Nigeria into chaos? This is why we issued a
strong warning in our statement of December
5 in which we said, ‘We wish to state
unequivocally that should the PDP go ahead
with this plan, there will be widespread
repercussions as the APC has resolved that,
henceforth, every act of impunity of the PDP
and the Presidency will be met with stiff
resistance in the form of a vociferous
telegraphing of people’s power, the likes of
which have not been witnessed in these parts.’
“We reiterate those words today (Sunday), and
make bold to say that not even the revelation
by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that
snipers are being trained secretly and that
1,000 people have been placed on political
watch, will deter us from saving this
democracy, which was watered by the sweat
and blood of many patriots, long before this
generation of opportunists stormed the political
scene.”
The opposition said while Nigerians were very
much aware of the failings of the Jonathan
government in all sectors, it was important to
remind them that the administration had, in
particular, not been up to scratch in fighting
corruption.
The party said the government had also failed
to provide jobs for Nigerian youths, even as it
daily reels out phantom figures of economic
growth that only serve to keep the so-called Ivy
League-trained officials in charge of the
economy on their jobs.
The APC added, “The talk out there now is that
Nigeria has never had it so bad. But the
government may not know because it has
distanced itself from the people.
“Therefore, for embracing corruption so much
and providing succour to corrupt public
officials, for threatening the country’s fragile
unity through divisive policies and politics, for
frittering away the nation’s resources through
unprecedented cronyism and clannishness, and
for a total failure of leadership, this President
deserves to be slammed with the cudgel of
impeachment.’’
When contacted, the Chairman, Senate
Committee on Information, Media and Public
Affairs, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, said the
Senate was not aware of the call for the
President’ s impeachment by the APC
“I can only react to issues and matters before
the Senate that have been concluded. No letter
or motion has been brought before the Senate
on the issue,” he said.
But the Presidency, in a statement by the
Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, dismissed the call
as opportunistic, partisan and ill-motivated.
“The Presidency warns that the APC and any
person who make themselves its willing tools
for the breach of public order and safety will
be made to face the full sanctions of the law.
Those who are threatening fire and brimstone
should be ready for the consequences of
treasonable action,” it said.
It advised Nigerians to distinguish between
reckless violations of civic duty and the urgent
need to protect the integrity of the nation
against those who for selfish reasons had
declared their readiness to stop at nothing.
While describing the call as reckless and
irresponsible, the Presidency warned that the
Federal Government would not standby and let
the nation be plunged into unnecessary
political instability.
The statement reads in part, “We have noted
with utter disdain, the reckless and
irresponsible call by the APC on Sunday for the
National Assembly to commence impeachment
proceedings against President Goodluck
Jonathan.
“Ordinarily, we would not have dignified Alhaji
Lai Mohammed’s latest vituperations in the
service of his paymasters with a response, but
we thought it necessary to warn that the
Federal Government will not standby idly and
let the nation be plunged into unnecessary
crises and political instability because of the
desperation and apparent readiness of the APC
spokesman and his gang of power-seeking
desperadoes to sacrifice the well-being of the
country on the altar of their selfish personal
ambitions.
“The Presidency totally condemns the decision
by Alhaji Mohammed and his party to move
further beyond the bounds of honourable and
acceptable political conduct with the senseless
call for the impeachment of a President who
continues to sincerely devote himself to the
discharge of the sacred mandate freely given to
him by Nigerians.
“The APC, which remains a minority party with
doubtful credentials in the National Assembly,
knows fully well that its attempt to hector and
blackmail a parliament dominated by loyal
members of the President’s party, the PDP, into
an impeachment process, will come to nothing.
“But it has cavalierly embarked on this
outrageous gambit, with scant regard for peace,
order, security and political stability in the
country in furtherance of its dastardly and
heinous strategy of over-heating the polity and
working to cause public disaffection against the
Jonathan Presidency with lies, false accusations
and unjustifiable indictments ahead of the
2015 general elections.”
The Presidency said it considered it
deplorable that the APC had in its
Machiavellian desperation recklessly assailed
the integrity and honour of the judiciary.
It added, “We have noted the undisguised
threat by the APC to foster public insurrection
against the Federal Government if pending
legal cases go against it.
“We dismiss the APC’s call for the President’s
impeachment as opportunistic, partisan and ill-
motivated.”
The PDP also described the call by the APC as
“irresponsible, malicious and self-seeking.”
“The call is part of the plan by the APC to
truncate this democracy and we will not allow
it, ” the PDP spokesperson, Chief Olisa
Metuh, said.
He added, “The APC had planned to cause
mayhem during the governorship election in
Anambra State, but God did not allow that to
happen.
“Its members want to engineer turmoil and
breakdown of law and order in the country.
They know that they cannot win the 2015
general elections because Nigerians have
rejected them.”
Metuh asked Nigerians to be wary of the
activities of the members of the opposition
party.
He also called on them to hold the opposition
party responsible for any breakdown of law
and order in the country.

Space booked. Comment l8a

From every indication, APC is not and will never be the messiah that we ar looking for in this country. By their pull-him-down attitude, they are already under or below the person they ar trying to pull down. Tell me then how they can take the people to the height of admiration. They are not to be trusted.