Reps: We won’t support Buhari’s impeachment

The House of Representatives said last night that it would not support any attempt to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.

The House said through its spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa) that the impeachment being muted by some senators would not in any way get the support of the lawmakers from the House “because there’s no reason for that.”

Some senators loyal to Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had last Tuesday muted the idea of impeaching the president in view of the ongoing forgery trial against

Saraki and Ekweremadu.

The Senate had summoned the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, over the forgery suit, but he did not honour their invitation.

At a closed-door session that lasted for over an hour, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia) suggested that the Senate should “go for the jugular,” and when his colleagues asked what he meant by that, he reportedly said that they should commence an impeachment process against the president.

Following the impeachment speculations, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) described the move as “laughable” and “a joke taken too far.”

But the Senate, through its spokesman, on Thursday denied that there was any plot to impeach the president, saying the APC leadership reacted to mere speculation and fabrication on a purported plan to impeach President Buhari.

“We expected the party to at least explore all the options open to it to verify that piece of fabrication which is only the figment of the imagination of the writers and their sponsors. It should be clear to the APC leadership his deputy, Ike that if there is any truth to that story, it should have been credited to a particular Senator who was at the executive session.

“It is evident from our proceedings of yesterday (Wednesday) that the Senate itself was shocked that such a fabrication which constitute a breach of the privileges of the Senators was published and that was why we mandated our committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate the source and circumstances leading to the emergence of such a fabrication,” he said.

However, Namdas told Daily Trust last night that the House would not support any move to impeach the president. He said: “The president has not done anything to warrant that. We’re with the president. This is a Senate matter, but even at that, we won’t support it, because we don’t have any reason to do that. Impeachment is not even in our agenda.

“Let me say that we have no intention of impeaching the president. For us, the president has not committed any impeachable offence. In fact, if anything, we’re working hard to cement our good working relationship with the president for the benefit of Nigerians.

“As a House for Nigerians, we can’t support such move because the president has not done anything to warrant that. So, it’s not part of our agenda at all.”

Similarly, the Chief Whip of the House, Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi yesterday that there was no single evidence of impeachable offence against President Buhari.

“As far as I am concerned, I am a member of House of Representatives and a principal officer of the House; the National Assembly is a twin institution; we have the House and we have the Senate.

“If there is any insinuation or speculation about the impeachment of Mr President in any chamber rather than the House of Representatives, that, I don’t know.

“But I want to be very straight forward to you that we don’t have such a consideration before us; that matter is not even being contemplated; it was not even at any point in time thought of,” he said.

“After all, we do not have any evidence of impeachable offence with which to use against Mr President. It is mere speculation on the street and should be left at that level,” he added.

APC governors, in Benin, the Edo State capital, at the weekend, also said they would resist any attempt to impeach the president.