No Going Back On Impeachment Of Jonathan, House insists
ABUJA, July 23, (THEWILL) - The Federal House of Representatives has maintained that it would not be stampeded into abandoning its planned launch of impeachment proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan should he fail to implement the 2012 budget as passed by the National Assembly.
The House also explained that the impeachment threat was borne out of national interest and patriotism of members, describing statements suggesting that the lawmakers were sponsored by external forces as mischievous and misleading.
Chairman of the House committee on media and public affairs, Hon. Zakari Mohammed made this position known in a press statement on Monday, saying “Arising from the plenary of Thursday 19th July 2012, which discussed extensively on the snail’s-pace implementation of the 2012 Appropriation Act by Mr. President and the attendant ultimatum issued that if by 30th September 2012 when the House resumes from recess, there is no marked improvement, the House would be left with no choice but to initiative impeachment proceedings,
“This bold and patriotic step by the Seventh Assembly has attracted different comments from a lot of quarters, expectedly. Therefore, some sponsored news editorials and commentaries choose to deliberately misinform the public on the rationale behind our nationalistic stand. For the avoidance of doubt, while we are aware that all revenue-generating agencies have surpassed their annual target for the year, the House is worried that this positive development did not reflect in the implementation of the budget for the benefit of the Nigerian people.”
He said it was “terribly out of place” to conclude that the resolution of the House was borne out of selfish motives. “We would, however, continue to raise our voices to the highest ebb. Where we sight injustice or impunity, no amount of blackmail or intimidation would cow us into abdicating our constitutional responsibility, which we signed with our employers the (Nigerian people) to stand firm and protect their interest,” he said.
“To assume that we are guided by some forces outside the House of Representatives is mischievous and a deliberate ploy to misrepresent the House before the Nigerian public.”
He further explained that the House has the constitutional responsibility to serve as check on the Executive in order to strengthen instruments of governance, especially on oversight.
His words, “This trend, if not arrested, would worsen the already fragile state of the nation, hence the need for our quick intervention. To then insinuate that the House of Representatives took this noble step to satisfy pressure from a political party or because the constituency projects were not awarded to members or because of the drama that followed the presentation of the fuel subsidy report is, to say the least, malicious damaging and uncharitable to the image of the Assembly.”
He noted that lawmakers are not contractors, and so the execution of constituency projects has been the exclusive preserve of the executive and its agencies.
There have been divergent reactions to Thursday’s warning of impeachment against the president, and notable officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including president of the Senate, David Mark, are known to have intervened.