Senators divided over Jonathan’s impeachment

What has been rumoured for about two weeks
now as plot to impeach President Goodluck
Jonathan by the Senate came to the fore
yesterday following the unmasking of Senator
Abdulkadir Jajere as the person behind the
move.
Jajere (Yobe South) came out openly
yesterday to announce that he is the
promoter of the plot and insisted that as at
yesterday, 63 senators had already signed
the register to key into the impeachment
plot.
He disclosed that two other senators have
shown readiness to sign into the project, and
with that, they are ready to commence the
process proper when the senate resumes
from a two week break on December 16.
But Jajere's figure of 63 senators, which he
said comprises eight Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, and 55 opposition All Progressive
Congress members, APC, senators casts
doubt about the authenticity of his claims as
there are altogether only 38 APC members in
the senate, following the decamping of three
senators from Ogun State, one from Edo, one
from Oyo and one from Nasarawa.
"As of today, the required signatures to
initiate the impeachment notice had been
obtained. The senate has adjourned to the
16th of December, so by that date the
impeachment notice will be presented on the
floor of the senate," Jajare told newsmen
yesterday.
Despite the insistence of Jajere that he and
his colleagues are hell-bent on going ahead
with the impeachment, it was difficult to get
any senator who admitted to the
impeachment project from the the opposition
senators and the majority senators.
All the senators spoken to by National Mirror,
were non committal to the impeachment
project.
While the Senate's spokesman, Enyinnaya
Abaribe was quick to dismiss Jajere's claims
as, "figment of his imagination," Senator
Ayogu Eze simply described Jajere as a,
"blatant liar and story teller."
Eze said: "Put me on record, Senator Jajere is
a blatant liar for saying that 65 or 70
Senators have signed his alleged
impeachment list against President Jonathan.
The said list is non existence in the senate
and why didn't you tell him to show you the
list on which he said he is number four and in
particular, asked him who is number 65
there?"
Continuing, Eze who is the chairman of the
senate committee on works said, "Yes, there
are some political opponents of the President
in the Senate or even disgruntled ones, but
the fact is that even if they want to make
such move, they cannot even get up to 10
and where are they even going to table such
rubbish. We are waiting for them anyway.
"Even the reason reportedly cited by the
senator for the so called impeachment move,
stands logic on its head because how can you
be bringing a non existing offences of 2011
as impeachment offences in 2014. Where
were they in 2011 when the alleged offences
were committed by the President and don't
they even know that three other
appropriation bills had been passed by the
senate after the 2011 one?
"To me Jajere is a story teller We are waiting
for him and his other signatories who are
more of spirits than human beings in the
Senate and let me put it to him and his other
people that if they think they can intimidate
the President or PDP out of power, they are
just day dreaming because the man will
contest the 2015 election and going by
realities on ground, he will win. So the earlier
they realise this, the better for them."
Earlier, Jajere had said: "I have signed the
impeachment notice because there are
impeachable offences against President
Goodluck Jonathan. You are my colleagues
and being a journalist who had practised
journalism for 27 years and I know these
things are not new. In 2011, this senate
approved N240bn as subsidy fund but the
same government spent N1.7trn which is a
clear breach of the constitution, clear breach
of the appropriation act.
"The business of government is to curtail
excesses but this government has shown that
it is incurably deficient in handling the
situations in this country. That government
cannot say it want to continue. The president
should have even resigned without waiting
for him to be impeached.
"The duty of the legislature is to act as a
check and balance because it is the most
important symbol of democracy. If you don't
have the legislature, you don't have the
legislature, you don't have democracy
because every other arm of government
exists even when there is no democracy. It is
only the legislature that makes a democracy,
a government.
"As at last week, 63 of us have signed up for
the impeachment, my signature was the
fourth but I can confirm to you that we have
63 signatures but after the session today, two
people had called me and told me that they
want to sign. One of them is an APC senator
who was away doing campaign because he is
contesting the governorship election of his
state. The other person is a PDP senator.
"The impeachment issue is not just coming
now. It also a process that started early in the
year but there was a hiccup but today, there
are issues that have triggered the National
Assembly to do what it should do. No matter
what the time, it is a three legged issue; the
National Assembly will now have to initiate
the process and then, submit that process to
the judiciary. The judiciary will form a
committee through the CJN; the National
Assembly will carry out the verification of the
committee and conclude the remaining
process. The National Assembly will soon
conclude our own side and submit the notice
to the judiciary.
"Before the end of today I can assure you that
the list will swell up to 70. It is on the
impeachment day that we need two-third of
the members to carry out the exercise but we
need only one-third, which we already have,
to initiate the process. It is just a matter of
one day sitting. We will just push it before the
two chambers."
Posted By David Aniemeka