Impeachment: Who should go between Jonathan & Tambuwal?

The violent and comical scenes that played out last Thursday in the National Assembly have since gone viral on the social media and the traditional press – local and international. But behind all the tough talk from both sides of the fracas is a developing impeachment threat on Jonathan and Tambuwal, LEADERSHIP's Edegbe Odemwingie reports.

Comical video recordings and photographs showing well-fed federal lawmakers and political aides climbing the National Assembly gate have thrilled many.

“Right there, we had to contend with the threat of being bludgeoned and pepper sprayed to death. Nobody wants to be a dead hero,” a lawmaker, Victor Afam Ogene, who successfully climbed over the gate, stated a day after the attack on the National Assembly by the police and operatives of the SSS.

A major fallout of the fracas are heightened moves and counter moves by the camps of the Speaker of the House of Reps, Rt. Hon Aminu Tambuwal and that of President Goodluck Jonathan to impeach each other...

Still managing to catch his breath after teargas canisters were fired at Tambuwal and his supporters, Hon. Sumaila Kawu (Kano/APC), charged angrily at the House deputy speaker, Hon Emeka Ihedioha inside the House chamber, “Let me see you move any motion for impeachment (on Tambuwal) here.”

At another corner inside the chambers, APC House members hurriedly gathered signatures to impeach Jonathan after the police and DSS blockade of the National Assembly aimed at fencing out Tambuwal failed.

A different plot to impeach Tambuwal using a few PDP members who were at the chambers at the time was later made public that day.

For now, not fewer than 200 House members have endorsed the motion to impeach Jonathan, according to the House minority whip, Hon. Samson Osagie.

Osagie (Edo/APC) stated in a monitored report that the 200 signatures far exceeds the number required by the constitution to serve president Jonathan an impeachment notice.

He said there are over 20 impeachable offences against the president which include: “Gross incompetence in the administration of the nation, mismanagement of the nation’s resources resulting in untold hardship on the citizens and inability to recover stolen funds from various ministries and agencies”.

Other offences, according to Osagie, are: “unconstitutional use of security agencies against perceived opponents, non-implementation of the budget, entrenchment of corruption and defiling of the institution of the legislature, among others.

“The constitution says we need only one third of members of the National Assembly to serve the president an impeachment motion and I can confirm that we have surpassed that number”, he stated.

Traditionally, the House minority leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos/APC) is expected to lead the plot to impeach the president. In the past, Gbajabiamila has not shied away from calling for Jonathan’s impeachment.

Tambuwal also has a staunch ally in Hon Aliyu Gebi (Bauchi/APC).

Of course, Jonathan’s supporters in the House, backed by the federal security apparatus, are poised to counter impeachment moves against the president. Some of Jonathan’s House loyalists stand out.

Number Games
As the House inches close to its December 3 resumption date, the situation in House is still fluid. The gale of lawmaker’s defection, which has tossed majority status between the PDP and APC in the House, remains a reference point as far as the impeachment threats are concerned.

For now, Tambuwal’s defection to the APC puts the opposition in the leadership of the House over a PDP dominated House (in term of numbers), a first since 1999. PDP lawmakers have a majority with 189 members to APC’s 159. The remaining 12 lawmakers are from other parties.