Reps divided over impeachment plot against Jonathan

There were indications on Tuesday that members of the House of Representatives were divided over the threat to impeach President Goodluck.

The division in the House, particularly among the Peoples Democratic Party’s lawmakers, came to the fore on Tuesday when the Chairman of the Committee on Capital Market, Mr. Ibrahim El-Sudi, said that the threat was the handiwork of the opposition in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.

But the House spokesman, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, in an interview with one of our correspondents, faulted El-Sudi, saying he was merely expressing his personal opinion.

The lawmakers had on Thursday accused the President of breaching the 2012 Appropriation Act and poorly executing the budget. They also adopted a motion giving Jonathan up to September to achieve “100 per cent execution” of the budget or face impeachment proceedings.

The motion was endorsed by all members of the House.

El-Sudi however on Tuesday, on Sunrise Daily, a live breakfast programme of a private television, Channels TV, gave an impression that the decision was the idea of members of the opposition in the House.

When one of the television presenters sought to know from El-Sudi why the PDP-dominated House was issuing an impeachment threat against the President, the lawmaker said the threat came from members of the opposition.

He added that contrary to the widely-publicised reports of the impeachment threat, the House of Representatives had not taken any decision on what would happen by September.

El-Sudi said, “It (the impeachment threat) came from members of the opposition and they are entitled to their opinion. It was not a resolution of the House.

PUNCH NEWSPAPER