The All Progressives Congress (APC)
has warned that the reported plan hatched by the Presidency to arrest House of
Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal could trigger a crisis that will be
fatal for the nation’s democracy, hence there is the need to jettison the plan
out of abundance of caution.
In a statement ,Saturday in
Ijebu-ode by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party
said the federal government will be pouring petrol on a naked fired by
arresting the Speaker, following the failed attempt to prevent him from
accessing the National Assembly to preside over the affairs of the House of
Representatives on Thursday, and also in an apparent attempt to halt the
current move to impeach the President.
”Published reports have corroborated
what we know: That the plan on Thursday was to prevent Tambuwal from entering
the National Assembly to pave the way for his Deputy, Emeke Ihedioha, who had
already been allowed into the House, to preside over the removal of the
Speaker. Were it not so, why would the police even try to seize the mace from
the Sergeant-at-arms, as reported? Why would the police detain the
Sergeant-at-arms for his refusal? What is the business of the police with the
mace, which is the House’s symbol of authority?
”It has also now been corroborated
that the plan hatched by the PDP and the Presidency was to give Tambuwal the
”Ekiti treatment”, in which seven PDP members removed the Speaker in a
26-member House of Assembly. But for the quick thinking and action by the
Honorable members who scaled the gate to access the Assembly, that plan would
have succeeded and Tambuwal would have been removed as Speaker, the
consequences of which no one would have been able to foretell.
”Therefore, instead of pillorying
those who scaled the gate, we should be commending them for risking their lives
to save our democracy. Those who shut the gate against the lawmakers and barred
them from carrying out their constitutional duties are the villains, not the
honorable members who acted in the nation’s interest,” it said.
APC said the ceaseless hounding of
Rt Hon Tambuwal by the President and the PDP is patently provocative, to say
the least, and calls into question the stated commitment of the Jonathan
Administration to the rule of law.
”In the eyes of the law, Rt. Hon.
Tambuwal remains the Speaker of the House of Representatives, despite his
defection from the PDP to the APC. No matter what the PDP and the Presidency
may feel, they are not the court of law, which is the only body that can make a
definite pronouncement on the fate of the Speaker.
”The Speaker also remains the number
two man in the hierarchy of the Legislative Arm of government, which is
distinct from the Executive Arm headed by the President. It is therefore not
only unconstitutional but also anti-democratic and anarchic for the PDP-led
government of President Goodluck Jonathan to continue to hound the Speaker and
desecrate the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly, using the police
force that has now become the enforcement arm of the ruling party, having
dropped all pretences to neutrality and professionalism,” APC said.
The party said at a time the political
atmosphere has become so charged by the government-backed police assault on the
National Assembly, it is a perilous game to seek to arrest the Speaker, for
whatever reason, unless of course the Administration is bent on deliberately
plunging the nation into crisis.
”It is difficult to fathom the
reason behind the government’s increasing resort to recklessness, but it may
not be unconnected with the rising desperation by the ruling PDP to hold on to
power at all cost. Perhaps now that it has started seeing the handwriting on
the wall with Nigerians clamouring for change, this government may be tilting
towards its last option of throwing the nation into crisis to prevent the 2015
elections from holding.
”We are therefore calling on all men
and women of good conscience, especially those who have the ears of the
President, to prevail on him not to push the nation into any worse crisis than
it is currently encountering. With terrorists daily killing and maiming
Nigerians, forcing more than 1.5 million people to flee their homes and
threatening the nation’s territorial integrity, the government’s trifling is
baffling, and should stop forthwith,” it said.
- See more at:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/arrest-tambuwal-fg-pouring-petrol-naked-fire-apc/#sthash.SnqYb1cY.dpuf
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