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Lawmakers to give Mark impeachment request
Senators have levelled 14 impeachable
allegations against President Goodluck
Jonathan.
The lawmakers are expected to harmonise
their allegations with members of the House
of Representatives before sending an
impeachment request to Senate President
David Mark.
The pro-impeachment Senators and
Representatives may meet before the end of
the week to agree on when to present the
request to Mark, in line with Section 143 (1)
and (2) of the 1999 Constitution.
Top on the list of the allegations is the
President’s refusal to sign 120 bills into law.
The Nation stumbled on a copy of the
allegations and signatures.
The President is expected to explain why he
could not curtail the Boko Haram insurgency;
and non-release of the abducted 219 Chibok
girls.
Other issues are undule politicising of the
security situation; failure to act as de facto
President; $10.8billion missing from the
Federation Account; squandering of N10billion
private jets; and sloppiness/ failure in
governance.
Some of the allegations also include alleged
violation of the constitution/ Oath of Office;
failure to implement recommendations of
panels/ committees; setting up of ill-
conceived, “nebulous” groups like TAN for re-
election campaign outside the Electoral Act;
failure to establish and inaugurate the Nigeria
Police Council; illegal deployment of Armed
Forces and sowing seed of hatred and turning
one part of the country against the other.”
Though the list of signatories was obtained by
our correspondent, the senators pleaded
against its publication until what they
described as “auspicious time”.
Although 63 senators were reported to have
backed the impeachment move, the document
shows that 16 signed.
A principal officer in the Senate, who pleaded
not to be named because of the “sensitivity”
of the matter, said: “We are embarking on
signatures drive as I am talking to you.
Senators are vetting the allegations before
appending signatures.
“We have secured the consent of more than
63 senators who are expected to sign up in
the next few days. And the senators are from
both the PDP and the APC.”
The “weighty” allegations have forced some
PDP senators to regroup against pro-
impeachment ones.
The allegations read in part: “The President as
the Head of government has worked to
undermine the effective performance of other
arms of government, especially the legislature,
by constantly frustrating peaceful and
harmonious co-existence among other arms of
government. In performing their constitutional
responsibility of lawmaking, the legislature
passes bills to be assented to by the President
before they become laws of the federation.
“The President has consistently and
consciously failed to sign bills and motions
passed on to him by the parliament, thereby
making the position of the legislative arm of
government untenable. At the last count, the
President has refused to assent to about 120
bills passed by the current National Assembly.
He has not sent any communication as to
their rejection as stipulated in Section 58 (1)
(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Motions and other legislative instruments
have suffered similar, if not worse, fate.
The senators have also decided to hold the
President liable for allegedly not doing enough
to address the Boko Haram insurgency and
communal conflicts.
The Notice of Impeachment states: “The
President, as Commander-In-Chief of the
Armed Forces and Chief Security Officer of the
nation, has failed to ensure the protection of
lives and properties. Mindless carnage by the
Boko Haram insurgents, especially in the
Northeast, recurrent violence in states like
Taraba, Adamawa, Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa
etc are manifest examples of how the
President has failed to exert the enormous
powers inherent in his office.
“This total failure of leadership has not only
served to threaten the corporate existence of
the country, it has taken an untoward toll on
the development and progress of the nation.
“The President has in an unprecedented
manner reduced the Office of the President to
an object of ridicule both locally and in the
eyes of the international community, thereby
reducing both the country and our hitherto
respected Armed Forces into laughing stock.
“As we speak, over 200 of our female children
have been abducted for over five months while
some parts of our territorial space had been
overtaken by the unrelenting insurgents. Yet,
the President and Commander-In-Chief of the
Armed Forces has displayed acute sense of
cluelessness on how to tackle the security
challenges.
“The general impression out there is that the
President is thoroughly overwhelmed and,
therefore, incapable of inspiring our gallant
men and women of the Armed Forces who are
daily killed and maimed owing largely to the
incompetence of their Commander-In-Chief.
“Just recently, a large number of our troops
ran to safety in neighbouring Cameroon in the
face of massive onslaught from the
insurgents. The fact that our renowned
military had to find succour with our little
brother next door is the greatest indictment
yet on the capability of the Commander-In-
Chief to rally his men and boost their morale.
“For unduly politicising the security situation,
the President has shown beyond all measure
of doubt that he has neither the courage nor
the sense of judgement to tackle the issue
headlong. Evidence abounds to show that the
President and his handlers by living in denial
as to the abduction of Chibok girls, gave the
insurgents more than three weeks head start
They accused Jonathan of abdicating his
responsibility through the concession of
waterways security and protection of oil
installations to a private firm.
“The President, in his capacity as Head of
State has woefully abdicated state
responsibilities and severely undermined the
capacity of our security agencies by passing a
“vote of no confidence” on the Nigeria Police
and Armed Forces to protect our strategic and
vital infrastructures, like the pipelines.
“A case of this failure was the award of non-
appropriated Oil Facility Protection Contract
worth N3.6b to a private firm (Oil Facilities
Surveillance Limited) controlled by ex
militants,” the document claimed.
The senators also alleged that the President
had failed to address corruption.
The senators added: “The President as the
Head of State is under obligation to abolish
all corrupt practices and abuse of power as
envisaged by Section 15 (5) of the 1999
Constitution (as amended). Since his
assumption of office, corruption in Nigeria has
assumed frightening proportion. For the first
time in our history, corruption is almost
elevated to a state craft where known corrupt
Nigerians are either friends or employees of
the government headed by the President.
“ From Stella Oduah (Minister of Aviation) to
AbdulRasheed Maina of the pension scam, to
how the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani
Alison-Madueke, has refused to account for
$10.8billion missing from the Federation
Account or how she allegedly squandered
N10billion to fly private jets in two years or
even how the NNPC under her watch managed
to pay subsidy monies to kerosene marketers
for three years without appropriation, thereby
contravening Section 80 (1)-(4) of the 1999
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
(as amended), it has been a season of
unbridled corruption.
“All of the names mentioned above are close
friends and supporters of the government and
have been seen hobnobbing with the President
in public even when facing charges of abuse
of office and corruption.”
They also accused Jonathan of allegedly
sowing the seed of hatred and turning one
part of the country against the other.
The document said: “As the de facto President,
instead of working to unite the country by
advocating true nationalism and patriotism,
the President has sought to take advantage of
our religious and ethnic differences through
divisive and sectarian policies and politics. By
continually, through his innuendos and body
language, suggesting that a particular section
or group of people of a particular faith or
ethnicity is an enemy of the country, the
President has consciously sowed the seed of
hatred and turned one part of the country
against the other.
“For threatening the fragile peace and unity of
the nation by his unprecedented clannishness
and cronyism, the President has acted in ways
unbecoming of a President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
“Failing to foster a sense of belonging and
involvement among the various people of the
federation, to the end that loyalty to the
nation shall override sectional loyalties, the
President has violated Sections 15 (2), (3) (a)
and (b) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
“For failing to establish and inaugurate the
Nigeria Police Council as envisaged by the
Constitution, the President swore on oath to
uphold and defend, he has breached/violated
the extant provisions of Section 153 (1) of the
1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria (as amended).
Section 217 (2) (c) of the Constitution said,
‘the Federation shall, subject to an Act of the
National Assembly made in that behalf, equip
and maintain the armed forces as may be
considered adequate and effective for the
purpose of – suppressing insurrection and
acting in aid of civil authorities to restore
order when called upon to do so by the
President, but subject to such conditions as
may be prescribed by an Act of the National
Assembly. Therefore the powers vested on the
President by virtue of the combined effects of
Sections 217 (2) (c) and 218 (1) to determine
the operational use of the Armed Forces of
the Federation, are not absolute and in fact
subject to the supervising authority of the
National Assembly as expressly stipulated by
the Constitution. Section 218 (4) clearly
states that, ‘the National Assembly shall have
power to make laws for the regulations of –
(a) the powers exercisable by the President as
Commander –in-Chief of  the Armed Forces of
the Federation; and (b) the appointment,
promotion and disciplinary control of members
of the armed forces of the Federation.’
A senator, who is a die-hard loyalist of the
President, said: “There is nothing like the
impeachment process against President
Goodluck Jonathan. Some senators are just
playing to the gallery.
“Even if they attempt to serve a notice of
impeachment, they cannot get the required
one-third of members of the National
Assembly to push it through. Those of us in
PDP will never allow the tyranny of the
minority to take place in the National
Assembly.”

Thousands of residents from Gubio town
in Borno State yesterday fled to
Maiduguri, the state capital after
suspected members of the Boko Haram
sect reportedly sent them a letter warning
of an imminent attack.
The fleeing residents, who arrived
Maiduguri on lorries, vans and trucks,
were seen in their numbers heading
towards the direction of the Shehu of
Borno’s palace as well as towards the
city centre.
One of the displaced residents, Fannami
Abuwar, said “We have been threatened
with letter by the Boko Haram insurgents,
saying that they would attack us soon
and we all have to flee for our lives
having heard of what happened to
communities like Damasak and
Malumfatori where similar threat were
made and carried out”.
Confirming the development, a
spokesman for the Vigilante Group in
Borno State, Muhammed Gava, said: “We
were all disturbed by the development
because Gubio, though not too far away
from Maiduguri, has been very peaceful
and calm all this while”.
Meanwhile, there has been no official
reaction to the situation from officials of
the state government and aid workers.
Gubio, which is about 96 kilometres away
from Maiduguri, is an agrarian town and
headquarters of Gubio local government
area.

Yomi Peters

Former international Yomi Peters died on
wednesday after a short battle with gastric
cancer.
The 74-year-old former Stationery Stores
player and coach gave up the ghost at the
General Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos.
“He died at 9.20am and his body has been
deposited in the mortuary,” Peters’ wife, Toyin
told our correspondent on Wednesday
morning.
Peters was earlier diagnosed of gastric
tumour but after series of tests, it was
discovered that he had gastric cancer.
Peters initially had problems settling his bill
at the General Hospital, until the Lagos State
Government came to his rescue, with a
promise to pay the bills incurred by the ex-
Stores forward.
Ex-internationals had complained about the
poor treatment of Peters, while in his ward at
the hospital.
“How can you keep him in an ordinary room
with three other heroes? He should have been
kept alone in a separate room because he is
a hero. If it was a politician who was in his
(Peters) situation, he would have been flown
abroad for treatment. But they don’t build
hospitals; even the ones we have are poorly
equipped,” ex-Super Eagles goalkeeper, Segun
Oguns, said.
“It’s sad to lose a hero like him. Its painful
for a great player in Lagos to die the way he
did. Now what they are talking about is
paying his bills but he is dead. If he was
flown abroad, he probably would have lived
another three years. If we had an effective
players union, things like this won’t happen,”
1984 Africa Cup of Nations silver medallist,
Clement Temile, said.
Peters played for NIgeria and Stores in the
1970s and became a household name in
Lagos for his striking abilities and leadership
qualities with the Adebajo Babes.
He was feared for his aerial prowess and as
a coach, helped Stores reach the final of the
Africa Cup Winners Cup in the early 1980s.

Punch

The leadership of the Nigeria Football
Federation have admitted that their hands are
tied where Stephen Keshi’s tenure as coach of
the Eagles is concerned.
Nigerians are calling for the resignation of
Keshi following his failure to qualify Nigeria
for next year’s AFCON defence of the title he
won in 2013.
But the Edo born coach still wants to remain
as coach.
He is yet to be offered a new deal and the NFF
have been silent on his future, a situation
which a board member of the NFF said was
out of their control.
Keshi and Amaju
“The last time we did what we thought was
best, we were forced to revert the changes by
people in high places. This time around we
are helpless”, the source lamented.
“We are scared of announcing we won’t renew
his deal due to what happened last time and
unless he resigns or walks away we can’t help
out”, he further added.
Keshi himself has insisted he is still the best
man for the job.

Hon. Kawu Sumaila, one of the lawmakers
who jumped the fence and  fought for House
of Reps speaker, Aminu Tambuwal to get into
the chamber last week, is seeking to be the
Governor of Kano state come 2015.

Four students of the University of Jos in
Plateau State were on Tuesday shot by yet-
to-be identified security operatives during a
protest by some students which led to the
closure of the institution by the school
authority.
The spokesman of the Special Task Force
(STF) on peace in Jos, Captain Ikedichi Iwela,
confirmed the incident, saying: “Four
students were shot by unidentified security
operatives while the students were
protesting.”
He added: “The injured students are currently
receiving treatment at the STF Clinic at the
force’s headquarters.
“We had to rush them to our clinic for
treatment because government hospitals are
currently on strike. The injured students are
responding to treatment.”
He denied the involvement of the task force
in the shooting.
Similarly, the police have also exonerated its
men, saying the Force had nothing to do with
the shooting.
The state Police Commissioner, Nasiru Oki,
said: “When we got the news of the protest,
we immediately deployed our men in the
scene to protect public properties and to
forestall any breakdown of law and order, but
none of our men fired any shot.”
Thousands of students of the university had
started a protest on Monday, shutting down
academic activities and demanding the
reversal of the decision of the management
of the institution to increase their
development levy.
President of the Students’ Union Government
(SUG), Abel Nok Du, had said the students
were agitated by the increase of their levies.
“We are calling for the removal of the N10,
000 development levies from our school fees.
We are also calling for the reduction of N25,
000 acceptance fees for admitted students.
“As I’m talking to you now, most of our
properties have been destroyed as a result of
our position-standing between the students
and the school authorities,” the students’
union leader said.
Du disclosed that: “The SUG met with the
school authority and resolved that the
examinations would start yesterday, but the
students were adamant and accused us of
compromise, and therefore destroyed our
properties.”
But the management of the university denied
the allegation. The Vice-Chancellor of the
university, Professor Hayward Mufuyai, told
the students to disregard the rumours being
peddled that the management intends to
review school charges.

Prof Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Oluwole Soyinka, today,
opened up on his health status, saying he was
diagnosed of cancer last December.
But an expert and Founder of African Cancer
Centre, Lagos, Prof. Olu Williams, quickly
assured Soyinka that he would “not die of
cancer.”

Williams, who revealed that Soyinka had the
disease because of his old age, said the
playwright will only “die with the ailment.”
Soyinka, who revealed his cancer status at a
press conference at the June 12 Cultural
Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State, said he had
decided to open up so as to create awareness
about cancer disease and to help people take
measures to prevent it or seek prompt medical
attention for cure.
The Nobel Laureate said he survived the silent
killer disease because of early detection,
treatment and proper dieting, adding that it
has also dawned on him that the family has a
history of cancer ailment.
He noted that his initial reaction when it
dawned on that he has cancer was to see it as
one of those challenges and nuisance that
should be dealt with, adding that a time he
considered it “an unwanted squatter in his
body and had to get rid of it whether it is a
slow growing one or malignant.”
Although, “Kongi”, who showed a crest to
attest to his surviving the disease, did not
reveal to reporters the nature of the cancer he
was treated for, his son, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka,
who is also the Commissioner for Health in
Ogun State, later told The Nation his father
was treated for “prostate cancer.”

Atiku Abubakar, whose birthday it is
today, said he will be spending his
birthday with family, as they celebrate his
wife, Jennifer Jamilah Abubakar, call to
bar.