Opposition lawmakers keep notes of constitutional breaches; Presidency, DHQ warn on overthrow

Despite the subtle threats from the Presidency and the Defence Headquarters to those seeking to remove the President, Muhammadu Buhari, the Minority Caucus of the National Assembly has said that it is noting all his constitutional breaches.

Meaning: they are contemplating impeachment moves against him, when the need arises.

Recall that in a terse statement, the Presidency and Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Tuesday warned those contemplating unconstitutional means to sack the government to desist from doing so.

The Minority Caucus of the National Assembly, after a meeting on Tuesday, said it will utilise all constitutional methods and measures available, if the need arose, to do the needful to save the country from collapse.

Caucus leader and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who briefed journalists after a closed-door meeting of opposition members, peopled mainly by members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said, ““The caucus has also taken note of the fact that the president is absent from duty. We have not seen our president. We have not heard from our president despite the daily killings that have turned Nigeria into a killing field of unimaginable proportions….

“We, therefore as a caucus, suggest that immediate steps should be taken by governments at all levels to set up proper security infrastructure whether in the mode of state police and other constitutional reforms to arrest the drift of the nation….

“The caucus also expresses strong reservations about the economic strategy of the government which has culminated into what is called quantitative easing, which the ordinary man knows as printing money.

“We feel that this strategy has led us to the very high inflation that we have today, devaluation of our Naira to the height that we never expected and has also concomitantly brought out unemployment and has led the government to contemplate, as we see today, to raise the price of fuel, electricity tariff and all manners of charges on the helpless Nigerians.

“We think that the government should reverse itself and should not continue in its mindless borrowing without seeing any benefits that are coming from it.

“We also, as a caucus, want to put on notice to all Nigerians and the international community about the threats to the lives of our members, to those who come out to say things that are true about the state of Nigeria today, and these threats have come in various forms, including threat to life.

“So, we condemn this attempt at holding everybody down and trying to shut us up and make sure that nobody says because they think by doing so, problems of the country will disappear. We say that problems of the country will not disappear.

“This is a time that needs the president to come out and take charge of his government and take us all away from problems we are seeing today.”

On the same day, the Presidency and the Defence headquarters issued statements on undemocratic change of government. Said the presidency, through the Buhari’s chief spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina: “The Department of State Services (DSS), on Sunday alerted on sinister moves by misguided elements to wreak havoc on the government, sovereignty and corporate existence of the country.

“Championed by some disgruntled religious and past political leaders, the intention is to eventually throw the country into a tailspin, which would compel a forceful and undemocratic change of leadership.

“Further unimpeachable evidence shows that these disruptive elements are now recruiting the leadership of some ethnic groups and politicians round the country, with the intention of convening some sort of conference, where a vote of no confidence would be passed on the President, thus throwing the land into further turmoil.

“The caterwauling, in recent times, by these elements, is to prepare the grounds adequately for their ignoble intentions, which are designed to cause further grief for the country.

“The agent provocateurs hope to achieve through artifice and sleight of hands, what they failed to do through the ballot box in the 2019 elections.

“Nigerians have opted for democratic rule, and the only accepted way to change a democratically elected government is through elections, which hold at prescribed times in the country. Any other way is patently illegal, and even treasonable. Of course, such would attract the necessary consequences.

“These discredited individuals and groups are also in cahoots with external forces to cause maximum damage in their own country. But the Presidency, already vested with mandate and authority by Nigerians till 2023, pledges to keep the country together, even if some unruly feathers would be ruffled in the process.”

On it’s part, the DHQ warned those it described as misguided politicians, and its personnel against any coup.

Its said, in a statement by its spokesman, Onyema Nwachukwu, a brigadier-general

“The attention of the military high command has been drawn to a statement purported to have been made by one Robert Clark SAN, suggesting that current political leadership should hand over power to the military for the purpose of restructuring.

“The Nigerian Military wish to dissociate itself from such anti-democratic utterance and position. Let it be stated categorically that the Armed Forces of Nigeria remain fully committed to the present Administration and all associated democratic institutions.

“We shall continue to remain apolitical, subordinate to the Civil Authority, firmly loyal to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Mohammadu Buhari and the 1999 Constitution as Amended.

“We shall continue to discharge our constitutional responsibilities professionally, especially in protecting the country’s democracy, defence of the territorial integrity of the country as well as protection of lives and properties of citizens.

“The Military High Command wishes to use this opportunity to warn misguided politicians who nurse the inordinate ambition to rule this country outside the ballot box to banish such thoughts as the military under the current leadership remain resolute in the Defence of Nigeria’s Democracy and its growth.

“We also wish to remind all military personnel that it is treasonable to even contemplate this illegality. The full wrath of the law will be brought to bear on any personnel found to collude with people having such agenda.

“The current security challenges are not insurmountable. The Armed Forces of Nigeria in partnership with other other security Agencies are working assiduously to ameliorate the challenge. Nigeria will know peace again. PLEASE BE WARNED!”