It doesn't look like those senators are joking anymore. The Senators
have leveled 14 impeachable offences against President Goodluck Jonathan
ahead of their agreed date of commencement.
The lawmakers are expected to harmonise their allegations with members
of the House of Reps before sending an impeachment request to Senate
President David Mark and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal.
The pro-impeachment Senators and Reps Members may meet before the end of
the week to agree on when to present the request formally, in line with
Section 143 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution.
“The President, in his capacity as Head of State has woefully abdicated
state responsibilities and severely undermined the capacity of our
security agencies by passing a “vote of no confidence” on the Police and
Armed Forces to protect our strategic and vital infrastructures, like
the pipelines.
“A case of this failure was the award of non-appropriated Oil Facility
Protection Contract worth N3.6b to a private firm (Oil Facilities
Surveillance Limited) controlled by ex-militants.”
The President is expected to explain why
he could not curtail the Boko Haram insurgency; and non-release of the abducted 219 Chibok girls.
Top on the list of the allegations is the President’s refusal to sign 120 bills they passed into law.
The Nation stumbled on a copy of the allegations and signatures:
Other issues are undule politicising of the security situation; failure
to act as de facto President; $10.8billion missing from the Federation
Account; squandering of N10billion private jets; and sloppiness/ failure
in governance.
Some of the allegations also include alleged violation of the
Constitution/Oath of Office; failure to implement recommendations of
panels/ committees; setting up of ill-conceived, “nebulous” groups like
TAN for re-election campaign outside the Electoral Act; failure to
establish and inaugurate the Nigeria Police Council; illegal deployment
of Armed Forces and sowing seed of hatred and turning one part of the
country against the other.”
Though the list of signatories was obtained by our correspondent, the
senators pleaded against its publication until what they described as
“auspicious time”.
A principal officer in the Senate, who pleaded not to be named because
of the “sensitivity” of the matter, said: “We are embarking on
signatures drive as I am talking to you. Senators are vetting the
allegations before appending signatures.
“We have secured the consent of more than 63 senators who are expected
to sign up in the next few days. And the senators are from both the PDP
and the APC.”
The “weighty” allegations have forced some PDP senators to regroup against pro-impeachment ones.
The allegations read in part:
“The President as the Head of government has worked to undermine the
effective performance of other arms of government, especially the
legislature, by constantly frustrating peaceful and harmonious
co-existence among other arms of government. In performing their
constitutional responsibility of lawmaking, the legislature passes bills
to be assented to by the President before they become laws of the
federation.
“The President has consistently and consciously failed to sign bills and
motions passed on to him by the parliament, thereby making the position
of the legislative arm of government untenable. At the last count, the
President has refused to assent to about 120 bills passed by the current
National Assembly. He has not sent any communication as to their
rejection as stipulated in Section 58 (1) (4) of the 1999 Constitution
(as amended). Motions and other legislative instruments have suffered
similar, if not worse, fate.
The senators have also decided to hold the President liable for
allegedly not doing enough to address the Boko Haram insurgency and
communal conflicts.
The Notice of Impeachment states:
“The President, as Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces and Chief
Security Officer of the nation, has failed to ensure the protection of
lives and properties. Mindless carnage by the Boko Haram insurgents,
especially in the Northeast, recurrent violence in states like Taraba,
Adamawa, Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa etc are manifest examples of how the
President has failed to exert the enormous powers inherent in his
office.
“This total failure of leadership has not only served to threaten the
corporate existence of the country, it has taken an untoward toll on the
development and progress of the nation.
“The President has in an unprecedented manner reduced the Office of the
President to an object of ridicule both locally and in the eyes of the
international community, thereby reducing both the country and our
hitherto respected Armed Forces into laughing stock.
“As we speak, over 200 of our female children have been abducted for
over five months while some parts of our territorial space had been
overtaken by the unrelenting insurgents. Yet, the President and
Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces has displayed acute sense of
cluelessness on how to tackle the security challenges.
“The general impression out there is that the President is thoroughly
overwhelmed and, therefore, incapable of inspiring our gallant men and
women of the Armed Forces who are daily killed and maimed owing largely
to the incompetence of their Commander-In-Chief.
“Just recently, a large number of our troops ran to safety in
neighbouring Cameroon in the face of massive onslaught from the
insurgents. The fact that our renowned military had to find succour with
our little brother next door is the greatest indictment yet on the
capability of the Commander-In-Chief to rally his men and boost their
morale.
“For unduly politicising the security situation, the President has shown
beyond all measure of doubt that he has neither the courage nor the
sense of judgement to tackle the issue headlong. Evidence abounds to
show that the President and his handlers by living in denial as to the
abduction of Chibok girls, gave the insurgents more than three weeks
head start."
They accused Jonathan of abdicating his responsibility through the
concession of waterways security and protection of oil installations to a
private firm [run my ex-militants].
The senators also alleged that the President had failed to address corruption and it is glaring to all.