N’Assembly Impeachment Plot: We’ll Match Force with Force, Says Tambuwal

* Saraki, Kwankwaso, Tambuwal, Ortom attend PDP NEC meeting

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

As concerns mount over alleged plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Presidency to instigate the impeachment of the leadership of the National Assembly, the Governor of Sokoto State Aminu Tambuwal has warned that any abuse of due process and rule of law will be met with stiff resistance by the opposition.

Speaking at the opening of the 81st National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja, Tambuwal said any attempt to abuse due process in the effort to unseat principal officers of the National Assembly will be stoutly resisted.

The Sokoto State governor said that patriotic Nigerians must rally together to retrieve power from the present leadership.

“Only three days ago, I did say that Nigerians will not accept prison yard democracy, especially whereby people will be framed up on the simple account of disagreement on political leanings is simply unacceptable. And we cannot allow our country to drift further. It is not about anybody, it is not about any interest, this is about the country.

“When I hear that some people were trying to break into the chambers of the Senate, to steal the Mace and install a pseudo Senate President, I wondered whether they actually know the rules our of democratic engagement. It is not a gestapo, we are in a democracy and the constitution of this country is very clear that members of the Senate and House of Representatives can chose from among themselves their own president of the Senate and Speaker.

“It is a conference of members of the two chambers and if the members have confidence of the Senate President, they are free to retain him and so be it with Speaker Yakubu Dogara. Nobody should be afraid and we must respect due process and rule of law if we are in a democracy. Nigeria is not a banana republic and we will not take from anybody.

“If you try it, we will march out our own forces in the country and jam you. We cannot afford to allow anybody, no matter how highly placed to toy with the fate of more than 200 million Nigerians,” he said.

While speaking on the outcome of the NEC meeting, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said
NEC resolved to adopt the new modalities for nomination of candidates for elections, to accommodate the changes brought about by the recent law on the “not too young to run”.

He said that the NEC has also approved the timetable for party primaries, details of which will be made public soon.

Speaking on the nature of the amendments to the modalities for primaries, he said the party tried to fine-tune it to include the age reduction as contained in the new law.

The Senate President Bukola Saraki and top former members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), former Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, governors of Sokoto and Benue States, Tambuwal and Samuel Ortom were at Thursday’s NEC meeting of the PDP.

The NEC meeting, which had the trappings of a victory celebration, saw all the gladiators, especially the new defectors in a happy mood exchanging banter with each other.

Apart from the trio, the meeting hall was filled to its brim by the key figures in the PDP, including governors, lawmakers and some of the presidential aspirants.

One of the highlights of the NEC meeting was the symbolic recognition to be accorded to Saraki as the leader of the opposition party being the highest ranking political office holder under the present dispensation.

With his defection, Saraki effectively becomes the leader of the party, taking over from his deputy, Senator Ike Ekwerenmadu, who held the position until the latest defection that saw Saraki and other top APC members move over to the PDP.

The arrival of Saraki was heralded by loud ovation as he was led into the venue of the meeting by the PDP National Chairman, Secondus and other bigwigs of the party.

Saraki arrived at about 2.50pm to a tumultuous crowd that besieged the National Secretariat of the PDP in Abuja.

In a short speech, Saraki said that Wednesday’s event was a historic one not only to the PDP but to Nigeria.

He pleaded with members of the party to accept the returning former members and other new entrants with open hands so as to boost the chances of winning the 2019 presidential election.

Saraki said: “I’m happy to be back to PDP. Today is historic not only to the party but to Nigeria which is in dire need of rescue at this moment.

“Please receive us from the bottom of your hearts. Everybody is important in this journey we are embarking on. No sacrifice is too small for the tussle we have to face.

“I offer myself to provide good leadership but that is only if we are united. Let’s us all work together to make the sacrifices.”

In his speech, Secondus asked the APC administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari to stop assaulting the National Assembly and other democratic institutions.

“Today is the beginning of the great journey to freedom, the great journey to free our people and rescue this country from the damage done to it by the APC in the last three years,” he said.

The PDP national chairman expressed regret that agencies of government established to protect the people have been deployed to assault institutions of democracy by the federal government, mentioning incidences involving security agencies in Ekiti and Benue States and the homes of the Senate President and his deputy.

He said that the country is sliding dangerously under the watch of APC federal government and rather than confront the challenges they continue to feign ignorance of the situation as he predicted that they will remain aloof until PDP takes over Aso Villa.

Secondus, who led the members of the NEC to observe a minute silence for souls of innocent Nigerians killed across the country, said that rather than defend the country, security agents have been deployed to harass and intimidate opponents and those with dissenting voices.

The embattled Benue Governor Ortom also expressed happiness that he was back to the PDP fold.

An emotional Ortom said: “In my journey, I had too many travails and pains. I became more poor and all that I took away with me
I am happy I came to meet the party intact. I am happy that our leaders Senator Iyorchia Ayu, David Mark, Gabriel Suswam are still there. We can go to sleep as we go to 2019 with almost these leaders with me,” he said.

The Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Senator Walid Jibril, said the coming back of former PDP members is a blessing to the party, adding that all the returning members will enjoy equal recognition as other members of the party.

Many leaders of the PDP including governors, lawmakers and state chairmen attended the NEC meeting. The Deputy Senate President Ekwerenmadu was said to be recuperating from the travails at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) detention.