NIGERIAN President Goodluck Jonathan’s office fired-back at impeachment calls made by opposition Action
Congress of Nigeria on Wednesday, saying it was the “height of political rascality” on the part of the opposition party to call for the president’s impeachment.
The reaction was made public by Doyin Okupe, President Jonathan special assistant on public affairs, who said that the president was not involved in the avoidable political crisis that has rocked the capital city of oil-rich Rivers State for a second day running.
According to Mr. Okupe, the position of the Action Congress of Nigeria party is “condemnable, extremist and fundamentally flawed position by the opposition party”.
The leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria party, ACN, had criticized what it termed as the presient’s involvement in the unfolding saga of the absurd in Rivers State, saying that it was grounds for lawmakers to commence impeachment proceedings against President Jonathan.
“Under President Jonathan’s watch and with his tacit support, a few lawmakers dictated to majority of the members of the Ogun State House of Assembly, which was locked for a long time. Under President Jonathan’s watch, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum was sabotaged by his minions who declared a Governor with 16 votes a winner over the one who scored 19 votes, in an injurious blow to the concept of democracy.
”And under his watch, five lawmakers – out of 32 – have become the majority and, simply because they have the backing of the presidency, are now being given police protection to disrupt the proceedings of the House. As we write, Rivers state has been taken over by current and former militants who have been unleashed to destabilize the state and cause a breakdown of law and order, to pave the way for the imposition of a State of Emergency,” the party said in a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed on Wednesday.
It added that, “Taking a cue from the presidency, the State Commissioner of Police has turned himself into a politician and abandoned his constitutional role. Instead of providing security for the entire House to sit, he chose to back the renegades and their thugs to unleash mayhem on their colleagues. This is what you get when a leader dons the garb of a partisan instead of being a statesman. All sorts of minions simply follow suit.”
“This is not the democracy that was watered with the blood of many Nigerians. This not what Nigerians bargained for after years of military rule. We should not and must not allow those who are now reaping where they did not sow to reverse the little progress that we have made,” the party said.
Mr. Mohammed said on behalf of the ACN that “this cannot and must not be allowed to continue, hence our call on the National Assembly to move quickly to remove the source of the crisis. Since this is no longer an intra-party dispute and because of its potentials to set the country on fire, we also call on civil society groups, professional bodies and ordinary Nigerians to rise up and defend the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution over arbitrariness.”
But President’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, who addressed journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, said President Goodluck Jonathan is not involved in the Rivers crisis, and described the call for his impeachment as “the height of political rascality”.
Mr. Okupe said the reaction of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, to the event in the Rivers Assembly, as contained in a press release, should be a concern by all patriotic Nigerians.
“The President is not, has not and will never engineer any act that can cause disaffection between Governor Rotimi Amaechi or any other Governor and the state legislature or any other institution of government,” he said.
“Since his election as President, his personal and official mien reveals a personality that has utmost and distinct respect for democracy and rule of law.
“It is sad therefore, that despite repeated clarifications including one recently made by ACN Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state absolving President Goodluck Jonathan from the NGF crisis, Alhaji Lai Muhammed in his characteristic deafness to truth, continues to mischievously drag the exalted office of the President into controversies arising from the election of the Chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum.
“The call by the Action Congress of Nigeria for the impeachment of Mr. President based on these frivolous, unsubstantiated allegations is the limit of tolerable nonsense and a clear descent into inglorious political rascality,” he said.