PDP backs Reps’ call for Buhari’s removal

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has backed the call by its caucus in the lower legislative chamber of the National Assembly, urging Nigerians to direct their representatives, across party lines, to commence the impeachment process against President Muhammadu Buhari.

Maintaining that the appeal was constitutional and democratic, the main opposition party stated: “It is a direct reflection of the mood and desires of the Nigerian people, given President Buhari’s manifest failure in all spheres of governance and particularly in failing to provide an effective leadership that can guarantee the security of our nation and rescues our economy, which has collapsed in his hands.”

The PDP, in a statement on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, made it clear that it had always called on the legislators in both chambers, irrespective of political affiliations, “to stand on the side of the people by deploying the legislative instruments provided in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to rescue the ship of state.”

It went on: “The Buhari administration has already accepted failure as reflected in the declaration by one of its officials, that the nation is now at the mercy of bandits and terrorists, a development that signals that it has outlived its usefulness.”

The party noted that the Nigerian leader was elected by the people, adding that his stay in office is also dependent on the people as vested on them by the constitution, through their elected representatives in the National Assembly.

The PDP urged Nigerians to “eschew all primordial sentiments and stand for the nation at this critical time.”

The Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers) caucus, had on Sunday, urged members of the federal cabinet to “declare Buhari incapacitated by invoking Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution.”

In a statement, he claimed: “It was disheartening to the PDP Caucus that the President has failed to lead Nigerians from the front as he promised. Nigerians are daily and defencelessly killed by terrorists and bandits, while the economy is being freely bled by public officers.”but the Green Chamber, Monday, disowned the Chinda group.

Its spokesperson Benjamin Kalu described the call as an opinion of a single member within the ranks of the PDP members in the legislature.

In a statement, he insisted that Chinda was on a lone voyage on the call for the President’s removal.

Also on Monday, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) described the request as insensitive and callous.

Its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena in a statement, warned the Rivers lawmaker against playing politics with the grief of citizens in the aftermath of the recent, gruesome, and condemnable killings of some defenceless farmers in Zabarmari, Borno State by Boko Haram.

The APC maintained that it would not join Chinda and his backers in what it termed “the evil and ignoble road.”

The party added: “We have since learned that Chinda does not even have the support of any of the PDP House factions he claims to head. He is alone, rejected voice.

“The House of Representatives has already dismissed Chinda’s rant as illogical, self-serving, and a ploy to derail the proposed visit of the President to the House.”

“The leadership of the National Assembly, the President, and Armed Forces which the President heads as Commander-in-Chief are on the same page in tackling emerging security situations in the country and ensure the safety of all Nigerians.”  (  The Guardian)