Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja; Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
There was a heated session in the House of Representatives, yesterday, when lawmakers canvassed for the commencement of impeachment proceedings against President Muhammadu Buhari; for spending $496.3 million without National Assembly approval.
Trouble started after Speaker Yakubu Dogara read the president’s correspondence on the expenditure at yesterday’s plenary.
As soon as the Speaker finished reading the letter, Kingsley Chinda, raised a point of order and said the president’s action was an infraction against the 1999 Constitution (as amended). He urged the House not to treat the issue with levity.
Similarly, Sunday Karimi said the House should write the president and inform him in clear terms that he has breached the constitution and should be prepared to face the consequences.
On his part, Sergius Ogun asked why the president did not bother to write the House at the point of payment for the Tucano Aircraft.
Majority of the lawmakers who spoke on the issue also supported the call for the House to commence impeachment proceedings against Buhari.
Shortly before Dogara ruled on the matter, Aliyu Madaki said the House must be guided by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution( as amended), which they took oath to defend.
In his ruling, Dogara said the House would go by its rules and slate the letter for Second Reading, during which it would be debated, before a decision is taken.
Meanwhile, the Pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has called on the National Assembly to probe Buhari on the unauthorised spending.
The group described the anticipatory spending by the president as “an act of corruption and misappropriation of public funds.”
The group, after its meeting, which held at the residence of its leader, Chief Ruben Fasoranti in Akure, Ondo State, yesterday, said the National Assembly should probe the president and call him to order.
Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Yinka Odumankin, who read the communique, said “the meeting frowned at the anticipatory approval and payment of the sum of $496.3 million to the US Government by president Buhari, for the purchase of Super Tucano aircraft.
“It is disturbing that this impunetous act was carried out by the president, who now asked the National Assembly to include the money he had already spent in a supplementary budget. This is against section 83 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which says no money shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of such money has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly.”
“Since there was no Act of the National Assembly that authorised the spending of this money, it is clear that the president’s action is a clear subversion of the 1999 constitution.
“It is an act of corruption and misappropriation of public funds and we call on the National Assembly to ensure that the full wrath of the law is brought to bear on this issue, because this act of impunity is getting too much.
“The other day it was N1billion dollars for Boko Haram, who else would know how much money that has been taken out of the system in this way,” the communique added.
Also, Afenifere said the unabated killings by herdsmen, across the country, has confirmed General Theophilus Danjuma’s statement of alleged collision between the herdsmen and security operatives in the country.
According to Odumakin, the recent killings in Zamfara State, where 26 people were killed in a community while security operatives appeared hours later after the killings confirmed the fear of the former Defence minister.
Odumakin said “We are so disturbed over this issue, we noticed negligence of the security agencies because they came after the damage has been done and very late.”
The foremost Yoruba group declared that the herdsmen should be tagged as terrorists saying “there is hardly any day you open our newspapers without reading about scores of citizens who have been killed in cold blood by this terror group with our security agencies unwilling to act in the defence of the citizens.”
“We however, posit that there is possibility of a nexus between the indifferent of the security forces to the killing in our country and the fact that the President and the commander in chief has a conflict of
interest in being the commander of armed forces and at the same time the ground patron of the Myetti Alah, the organization that is perpetrating this terror against our people,” he added.
He said “to resolve the conflicts of interest , the President must immediately renounce his status as the Patron of Myetti Allah, as the activities have threatened the performance and his duty to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.”
“If the President insist to continue to be patron of this terror group, then his being the President of Nigeria is untenable because there is conflicts of interest.
“We also ask that this Fulani herdsmen should be immediately declare as a terror group and must be treated so, because no group in the history of this country has killed people the way they have been doing,” he added.
Afenifere also condemned President Buhari over a statement credited to him on Nigerians youths while on vacation in London, saying “the President owes the youths of this country an apology.”
odumakin said “we condemn in strongest term the statement credited to the President in London, where he degraded our youths, who have been struggling on daily basis to earn livings.”
“For a President to go out of this country to be asked about opportunity in his country and reply that our yotths are lazy, shows how much the president loves his nation and his people,” he stated.