Opposition Senators of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday protested the never-ending killings in Nigeria and vowed to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari, if he fails to resolve insecurity challenges within the next six weeks.
This was made known by the senators while addressing a press conference on the state of insecurity in the country by the Senate minority leader, Senator Philip Aduda in the national assembly.
According to him, the issue of insecurity was first raised during a closed-door session, and it was agreed that the red chamber would discuss and issue an impeachment notice because of the endless killing that have even made Abuja the nation’s capital unsafe.
The ruling out of the point of order raised by the Senate minority leader, Senator Philip Aduda by the Senate President, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan angered members of the opposition party who staged a walk-out of plenary chanting the song “all we are saying is Buhari must go.”
The lawmakers expressed fear that killings in Abuja have become unbearable, recalling that all recommendations by the upper and lower legislative Chambers on how to address insecurity have proven ineffectual.
Aduda who represents the Federal Capital Territory in the upper legislative Chamber said: “We went into a closed-door session on the state of insecurity in Abuja and took cognizance that Nigeria is no longer safe.
“Senate has recommended various measures and discovered that even Abuja is no longer safe.
“We agreed in the closed session that we will give President Muhammadu Buhari an ultimatum, but the Senate President Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan didn’t want us to raise the issue.
“However, we have issued six weeks for President Buhari to resolve insecurity or be impeached.
“We walked out of Chambers in protest.”
Responding to the six weeks threat issued by the PDP Senator, Garba Shehu, Special Adviser to the President Media & Publicity, in media release, titled DETERMINED TO BE IN THE HEADLINES, PDP SENATORS ARE DIVIDED, CONFUSED, said. “The performative and babyish antics of those senators staging a walk out notwithstanding, Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s refusal on Wednesday to entertain the ridiculous motion to impeach our President was quite appropriate and correct.”
“Rather than making a mockery out of voters by trying to imitate what they see in America, the opposition would be well advised that their time would be better spent tackling the pressing issues Nigerians face, such as the current global cost of living crisis.”
“Their continued failure to do so goes some way to explaining why they remain in opposition.”
“In contrast, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is committed to finding lasting solutions to the emerging security threats, including those left behind by the PDP in the South-South, the Northeast and throughout the federation. In the last 24 hours, two more Chibok girls were freed, in addition to the three brought home last week.”
“These kinds of headline grabbing stunts for which the opposition is now well-known serve no one, least of all their constituents. We would respectfully remind them that it is those same constituents that they were elected to serve and are paid to do so with public money.”
“We would welcome their collaboration in our efforts to solve the problems Nigerians face on a daily basis. No one is asking them to waste their time attempting to impeach a democratically elected President at the end of his second term – certainly not their constituents.”
“They should ask themselves: do they want to be in government, or do they want to be in the headlines? If they want to be in government, they should start acting like it and stop undermining Nigerian voters.”