By: Taiwo Adisa, Abuja
Saturday Tribune


Senators who are pushing for the impeachment of President Umaru Yar’Adua for failing to transmit a vacation letter to the National Assembly

in line with a resolution of the Senate have fixed next Wednesday for a final showdown on the

issue.

The Senators who are members of the National Interest Group (NIG) were also said to have received communication from some South South groups, who commended them for sticking to the dictates of the 1999 Constitution.

Sources also confirmed that a delegation of some South South groups also met with the Senators in Abuja with a message from the militants, who informed the lawmakers that their actions have so far stalled a full blown breakdown of law and order in the creeks.

The group was said to have declared that it was prepared to wait on the Senators to resolve the logjam in the polity, failing which the militants can take their fate in their hands.

“We met with some South South groups, at a location in Abuja, who said they were impressed with measures taken so far by the Senate. They said that they have decided to give us the benefit of the doubt to resolve the logjam and that after next week, they may be forced to count on their wisdom,” a source close to the NIG said.

It was gathered that the group has also commissioned human right lawyers, who have been tasked to comb the constitution and seek out impeachable offences against the President in the past two years.

Besides the refusal of the President to obey a resolution of the Senate, the lawmakers believe that there are certain impeachable offences that the President has committed in the course of his assignment so far.

“We have commissioned a consortium of lawyers to compile impeachable offences. We are meeting on Wednesday next week to determine the way forward. We are going to decide whether we should go ahead with the impeachment motion next week. We have also set up a three member team to liaise with the team of lawyers who would harmonise the impeachable offences,”

“Besides, we have written to pro-democracy activists to submit possible impeachable offences that they have identified in the course of the tenure of the president,” a source close to the Senators said.

A source said that the group of lawmakers are also working on the proposal made to them by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) at a caucus meeting on Wednesday, where the party’s leaders pleaded that the senators should give them one week to get the president’s vacation letter.

The Senators, according to sources, only want to filter information from the party for Monday and Tuesday before determining the seriousness of the party leaders in getting the letter.

The Senate had on January 27, passed a unanimous resolution, asking President Umaru Yar’Adua to transmit a vacation letter to the lawmakers in line with section 145 of the constitution.

But there have been silence from the president since the motion was passed, prompting NIG members to seek to activate impeachment moves against the president.

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