The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has heaped the blame for the ongoing crisis in Rivers State on President Goodluck Jonathan and urged the National Assembly to immediately commence impeachment proceedings against him for failing to live up to his oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The crisis in the state came to a head yesterday when five members loyal to the president attempted to impeach the speaker of the State House of Assembly, resorting to crude means that further caused a major a fracas that ended in injuries to some members.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party argued that by Jonathan’s abhorrence of the rule of law and majority rule, the latest indication of which is his unmistakable support for a group of renegade lawmakers fomenting trouble in Rivers State, the president has become a clear and present danger to the country’s democracy, and must therefore be shown the way out in accordance with the Constitution.
“Under President Jonathan’s watch and with his tacit support, a few lawmakers dictated to majority of the members of the Ogun State House of Assembly, which was locked for a long time,” the statement read.
“Under President Jonathan’s watch, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum was sabotaged by his minions who declared a governor with 16 votes a winner over the one who scored 19 votes, in an injurious blow to the concept of democracy. And under his watch, five lawmakers out of 32 have become the majority and, simply because they have the backing of the presidency, are now being given police protection to disrupt the proceedings of the House.
“As we write, Rivers State has been taken over by current and former militants who have been unleashed to destabilise the state and cause a breakdown of law and order, to pave the way for the imposition of a State of Emergency. This cannot and must be allowed to continue, hence our call on the National Assembly to move quickly to remove the source of the crisis.
“Since this is no longer an intra-party dispute and because of its potentials to set the country on fire, we also call on civil society groups, professional bodies and ordinary Nigerians to rise up and defend the rule of law and the supremacy of theConstitution over arbitrariness.”
The party decried the anarchy now reigning in Rivers, simply because the five renegade lawmakers have the backing of the Presidency, which has emboldened them to take extra-constitutional measures to try to remove the majority-backed Speaker of the State House of Assembly.
“Taking a cue from the Presidency, the state commissioner of police has turned himself into a politician and abandoned his constitutional role.
“Instead of providing security for the entire House to sit, he chose to back the renegades and their thugs to unleash mayhem on their colleagues. This is what you get when a leader dons the garb of a partisan instead of being a statesman.
All sorts of minions simply follow suit.”
The party added that in the aftermath of the crisis, the soldiers attached to the State House in Rivers have been withdrawn while there are real fears that police security will also be withdrawn by a commissioner of police who, apparently, no longer takes orders from his boss.
“This is not the democracy that was watered with the blood of many Nigerians. This is not what Nigerians bargained for after years of military rule,” ACN lamented.
“We should not and must not allow those who are now reaping where they did not sow to reverse the little progress that we have made.”
However, reacting on Wednesday in an interaction with the media, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe denied the president’s involvement in the fracas and slammed ACN for blaming the president and calling for his impeachment.
“Once again, this position of the ACN is another condemnable, extremist and fundamentally flawed position by the opposition party.
“For the avoidance of doubt and at the risk of repetitiveness, we wish to state categorically that in spite of what the ACN will want the Nigerian people to believe, President Goodluck Jonathan is absolutely unconnected and definitely not involved in the political crisis that seemed to have engulfed Rivers State in recent times.
“The president is not, has not and will never engineer any act that can cause disaffection between Governor Rotimi Amaechi or any other governor and the state legislature or any other institution of government. To avid watchers of Nigerian politics, President Goodluck Jonathan has not shown himself as a person who will deploy his immense constitutional powers against any governor or democratic institution to achieve personal goals.”
Okupe said since President Jonathan’s election as President, his personal and official mien reveal a personality with utmost and distinct respect for democracy and rule of law.
“It is sad, therefore, that despite repeated clarifications including one recently made by ACN Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State absolving President Goodluck Jonathan from the NGF crisis, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in his characteristic deafness to truth, continues to mischievously drag the exalted office of the president into controversies arising from the election of Chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum.
“The call by the Action Congress of Nigeria for the impeachment of Mr. President based on these frivolous, unsubstantiated allegations is the limit of tolerable nonsense and a clear descent into inglorious political rascality.
“It is now increasingly obvious that the desperation of the ACN to bullishly acquire power by all means and at all cost, including mindless precipitation of anarchy, disaffection and breakdown of public order is the driving force behind their incessant, irresponsible and unpatriotic politics of hate and deceit and their high propensity to fan the embers of national discord, disunity and social disorder.
“We therefore call on our distinguished and honorable parliamentarians and the general public to ignore and disregard the self-serving and unpatriotic call for impeachment of the president by the Action Congress of Nigeria.”
