Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned against the excessive use of power by the PDP-led federal government, a tendency, he said, was not good for decent democratic practice.
Atiku, who was reacting to the impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State on Tuesday, said in a statement issued by his media office in Abuja that wielding the axe of impeachment against elected public office holders to settle scores by the PDP-led federal government would needlessly build up tension in the country.
The former vice president said the reckless use of impeachment to settle scores could not have been the intention of the framers of the 1999 Constitution, pointing out that the frequency with which elective officials were being shot down by impeachment would destroy the whole purpose of inserting the impeachment clause in the Constitution.
He regretted that the use of impeachment to harass and humiliate perceived opponents by the PDP-led federal government would ultimately bastardise the spirit in which the constitution provides for the impeachment clause.
Atiku admonished the PDP-led federal government to take it easy in the way it uses power, adding that the constitution was not meant to provide ammo to anybody to harass and humiliate opponents or force them out of office.
He criticized the use of financial inducements to influence the removal of perceived opponents from office. According to him, triumphalism in the suppression of opponents is a bad omen for democracy.
