R-APC Raises the Alarm over Alleged Plot to Impeach Saraki, Ekweremadu Wednesday

BY Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja

The National Working Committee of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC) has again raised the alarm over alleged plot by the APC to use the Wednesday resumption date of the National Assembly for the ‘’illegal’’ impeachment of Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.

A press statement issued in Abuja Sunday by the R-APC’s spokesman, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said Adams Oshiomhole-led APC was hell-bent on giving nebulous interpretation to the provision of the 1999 constitution (as amended) – by using the numbers of senators present to effect impeachment of the two presiding officers.

‘’To this end, they have called on all APC senators to make it a point of duty to participate at the plenary on Wednesday to pass a vote of no confidence on the Senate President. This will be followed by orchestrated rancourous plenary session from where impeachment motion would be raised and their illegality perpetrated’’, R-APC added.

‘’There have been two meetings of the leaders and the senators in the last 48 hours to perfect this approach. The security agencies have also been briefed according to information reaching us. The APC factional chairman has been boasting and insisting that the Senate President would be impeached by whatever means because he no longer deserves to wear the crown.’’

The group stated that it was possible that the leadership of the ‘’factional’’ APC now sees the National Assembly as a palace, where crowns and beads are the instruments of authority, while reminding the suspected conspirators that the National Assembly is an arm of government represented by elected persons, who are vested with the responsibility of making laws for the good governance of the country.

According to R-APC, ‘’It is neither a kingdom of princes and princesses, nor is it a sanctuary for traditional doctrinaire where crowns and beads are used to impose monarchical authority. We are also using this medium to condemn the blatant use of cash-for-votes which the APC has introduced into our electoral process.

‘’The just concluded by-elections in Katsina, Bauchi and Kogi states are testimonies to this fact. This is a sad commentary for a government that preaches anti-corruption as its cardinal philosophy of governance. The desperation to win at all cost and the killings associated with the elections are bad signals towards 2019 general elections.’’

Calling on the Acting President to sack the current Inspector-General of Police, who the group said had shown a ‘’manifest incompetence’’ in the discharge of his responsibilities, R-APC wondered how can an interim report of the police on the ex-Director-General of the Department of State Service (DSS), Lawan Daura’s saga litter the pages of social media platforms when the investigation remains yet inconclusive.

It asked, ‘’How can the police exonerate itself from the act when it was reported that a Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG Habila was seen in a meeting with senators at the Aso Drive, the private office of the factional chairman of APC Comrade Adams Oshiomhole?

“What was he doing there as early as 10a.m on that fateful morning of Tuesday, 7th August, 2018?’’

The group called for an independent judicial investigation panel, made of eminent Jurists to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the ‘’failed political coup d’etat’’ that clearly undermined the legislative arm of government, and also the invasion of the private residences of judges, siege on the residences of the Senate President and his deputy.

R-APC added that getting the police to do the job is to exonerate the police bearing in mind their earlier siege on the residences of the Senate President and Deputy Senate President barely a week earlier.

Calling on the Senate President to invoke the provisions of section 68 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in declaring the seat of Senator Godswill Akpabio vacant, the group further stated that it is not on record that there is division in the opposition PDP, hence this declaration will be a step in the right direction.

‘’As the National Assembly plans to resume on Tuesday, we are calling on all Nigerians and lovers of democracy to be extra-vigilant before and during the plenary. The latest plans by the APC may yet again leave unsavoury taste in our mouths’’, R-APC said.