Impeachment process politicised —NLC

Vice-President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Isa Aremu, yesterday faulted the gale of impeachments rocking the system, saying it has become politicised.

The increasing recourse to impeachment, he noted, does not allow for sanctity of tenure, noting that more often than not majority lawmakers of a different political party use it to hound opposition governors.

Governor Muritala Nyako of Adamawa State was impeached by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-dominated House of Assembly while the speaker has since been sworn-in as acting governor. Nyako is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Impeachment notice has equally been served on Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarrawa state, another APC governor, while there are fears that more opposition states may be targeted with the impeachment move.

Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, Aremu said while he is not a fan of any of the governors, the intent of impeachment in the contemporary Nigerian polity is driven more by politics rather than “gross misconduct” as stipulated in the constitution.

According to him, the impeachment notice served on Nassarawa governor is even suspicious coming at a time the president was visiting the state.

Rather than resort to impeachment, Aremu, who is a delegate to the national conference, suggested that the electorate should be given the chance to remove a non-performing governor in an election. He urged President Goodluck Jonathan “to use his office to re-direct our political discourse along the line of statesmanship”.

“Why in a hurry when elections are just around the corner”, he queried, adding, “whatever the case maybe, even if we don’t like any governor, I think it is important if we want to sustain democracy that we allow for sanctity of tenure”.

He added: “I think it is important we work towards sanctity of mandate. It is also true that our constitution makes provision for impeachment where there are gross misconducts, violation and so on, but for goodness sake, we must make sure that the process of impeachment is seen to be transparent and to reflect the true spirit of the constitution.

The danger that we are having at hand is that the impeachment clause is being politicised, the perception is that it is becoming a tool for continuation of politics through another means”.

On the national conference, Aremu urged the executive and legislature to demonstrate to implement its recommendations.