A former Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Roland Owie, on Wednesday advised the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), not to contest for the presidency in 2023.
According to him, it would be the turn of the South-East to produce the next president of Nigeria.
Owie stated this while speaking on the emergence of a group, Justice and Peace Forum in Nigeria (JPFN), which would be launched early in 2021.
He noted that the North still has about four years after 2023 to catch up with the South since the rotation of the presidency started in 1999.
“The southern part of Nigeria has taken 14 years plus. So when Buhari finishes in 2023, even though it is a thorny regime, the north still has four years.
“If Tinubu knows that Nigeria has peace with this zoning, if he knows that do unto others as you will want them do unto you, he should not think of the presidency.
“Because if we all agree by 2023 that the presidency should come to the south, it is not to south west, it is not to south-south, it is to south-east.
“If all the major political parties agree that it should come to the south, the south-west is out of it, they have completed their eight years,” Owie said.
Over the past week, the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda from Rivers State has repeatedly called for the impeachment of President Muhamadu Buhari.
He hinged his decision on the security situation in the country.
Chinda in a statement on the 7th of December had called on the Federal Executive Council to invoke section 144(1) by declaring the President incapacitated to discharge the duties of his office and also called on Nigerians to compel their representatives to commence impeachment process.
On the 17th of July, Mr Chinda again called for the impeachment of the President following the recent abduction of 333 students of Government Secondary School, Kankara, in Katsina State.
He also declared that his party will challenge the position of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami on his claim that the National Assembly has no powers to summon the President.
It would be recalled that the House following the gruesome murder of 43 farmers in Borno by Boko Haram invited President Buhari to brief the House on the security situation in the country. Buhari later declined after initially agreeing to brief the joint session of the National Assembly.
Malami in a press statement claimed that the National Assembly has no powers to summon the President, citing section 218 of the 1999 constitution.
Analysis: The Position of the constitution on impeachment
Sections 143 and 144 provide the process for the impeachment of the President. Chinda in his two calls for impeachment called for invoking of the two sections.
Impeachment by the National Assembly
Section 143 of the 1999 constitution provides the steps for impeaching the President and the Vice President by the National Assembly for ‘gross misconduct’.
Here is a simple summary of the process. First, 1/3 (157) of the entire members of the National Assembly must sign a notice of allegation of “gross misconduct” which must be presented to the Senate President.
Copy of the notice within 7days is to be sent to the President and every member of the National Assembly. Within Another 14days after serving the President, with or without the reply of the President, then the motion to investigate the president must again be passed by 2/3 majority of each chamber of the National Assembly. That is, a motion of the investigation must be moved in the House and the Senate separately. For the motion to pass in the House, 240 members must support it, and 73 senators must also support it.
If the motion should pass in the two chambers, then the Senate President will ask the Chief Justice of the Federation to set up a panel of 7 persons who according to section 143 (5) must be “of unquestionable integrity, not being members of any public service, legislative house or political party.” The CJN will have to decide who passes these qualities.
The panel will investigate the allegation against the president within 90days and submit its report to each chamber of the National Assembly. If the panel should find the President guilty, then each chamber must within 14days again vote by 2/3 majority to adopt the report. The adoption of the report means the President is hereby impeached.
Present Political reality of impeachment
Chinda is not the Minority Leader in the House of Representatives. He lost the position to Ndudi Eumelu, who is officially the Minority Leader recognized by the National Assembly. The PDP which is the major opposition is divided in the House between Chinda and Elumelu. The APC in the House continues to gain more members to increase its majority in the House.
Also, the Senate President Ahmad Lawan and Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila are both allies of the President and have repeatedly declared their commitment to protecting the interest of the President.
Furthermore, the current CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko will be saddle with the responsibility of determining the selection of the panel, with discretionary powers to determine their neutrality.
Section 144 (5) reads: “Within 7days of the passing of the passing of a motion, the Chief justice of Nigeria shall at the request of the President of the Senate appoint a panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity, not members of any public service, legislative House, or political party, to investigate the allegation as provided by this section.”
Lastly, the possibility of getting 2/3 majority of all members in each chamber twice looks impossible considering that the House is prone to rowdy sessions at the slightest provocation. This perhaps explains while Chinda is asking Nigerians to prevail on their lawmakers.
And there is the long period of time involved in the process, and the possibility of litigation in the process.
Impeachment by the Federal Executive Council
The Federal Executive Council which refers to the body of ministers appointed by the President can also remove the president on the ground of “incapable to discharge functions of the office.”
The council in a resolution passed by 2/3 majority of the members can kick-start the process of removal from the office. Following the resolution of FEC, the Senate President will constitute a medical panel to determine if the “president is suffering from infirmity of body and mind.”
The panel will comprise of 5 medical practitioners appointed by the Senate President and 1 of them must be the personal doctor of the President. The president can only be removed if the panel should certify that indeed the president is suffering from deformity that can prevent him from discharging his office.
A copy of the certification will be sent to the Senate President and Speaker. After it has been published on the official gazzete, the President stand removed.
Political realities of Federal executive council
The body is made up of ministers appointed by the President, serving at the pleasure of the President, and stand removed at the discretion of the President.
Aso, the Senate President will also have discretionary powers to determine the composition of the medical personnel to determine the state of health of the President.
Members of the Niger State House of Assembly have sacked the Majority Leader in the House, Abba Bala Mohammed and his Deputy, Binta Mamman.
The lawmakers were impeached by their colleagues over alleged negligence of duty.
However, the sack of the Deputy Leader, Binta Mamman was later reversed as she was said to still be in isolation recovering from coronavirus.
The Legislators accused the majority leader of abandoning plenary during an important matter of the presentation of the Report of the 2021 budget estimate.
The impeachment motion was moved by the member representing Bida 1, Hon. Bako Kasim Alfa and seconded by Hon. Mohammed Lokogoma, representing Wushishi constituency
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has said that he will do everything to make sure the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) does not embark on another strike.
Ngige stated this on Wednesday, while speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
According to him, his three children were affected by the nine-month industrial action embarked by ASUU.
“I will not give ASUU the opportunity to go on strike. Because I have three biological children that suffered from this imbroglio that we found ourselves in and about 15 people on my scholarship in Nigerian Universities.
“My three biological children are here in Nigerian Universities. They even went to secondary school here. Two of them are American citizens and I had the option of leaving them to go study in America and enjoy the free education or whatever, but I didn’t.
“So, I am a committed parent. I am involved, even more than some ASUU members because some of them have their children in private schools,” Ngige said.
His remarks came hours after ASUU “conditionally” called-off its strike, ending a protracted industrial action that started in March.
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu has commended the School of Nursing, Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba, for excelling at the November 2020 General Nursing Council Exams.
Ikpeazu in a series of tweets, said the achievement was as a result of hard work by candidates, their teachers, school management, and the deliberate policies put in place by his government to take our education/training in the State to greater heights.
Assuring that his administration will continue to invest in education, the governor revealed that the Abia State University (ABSU) is now rated among the top 10 State Universities in the entire federation.
“For the first time in 10 years, the School of Nursing, Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba, came tops in the whole country at the November 2020 General Nursing Council Exams.
“ For example, we have built 4 new model schools & 477 new classroom blocks; we were the first State to feed her pupils from Pry 1-6 even before @NigeriaGov took over the feeding of pupils from Pry 1-3 nationwide. Despite that, we continued the feeding of our pupils in Pry 4 – 6 which was part of the reasons our school enrolment rate rose from 115,396 in 2015 to an unprecedented 658,472 in 2018.
“We have also been training and retraining teachers in our State with Australian and Indian consultants to keep them abreast of global best practices and techniques of teaching. It is therefore not surprising that Abia maintained first position back to back in @waecnigeria from 2015-2019 while we await the ranking for 2020
”Similarly, the Abia State University (ABSU) is now rated among the top 10 State Universities in the entire federation from its former 34 those who have followed our efforts in raising the quality of education in Abia, they will not be surprised that our candidates at the latest General Nursing Council Examinations had 100% rating and came tops in the entire federation at the Council’s latest exams.
“My assurance to Abians is that my administration shall continue to invest in education not only as one of our Pillars of Development but also as a way of ensuring a bright future for the next generations,” he tweeted.
Arsenal midfielder, Mesut Ozil, has identified Matteo Guendouzi as the most underrated footballer he has played in his career so far.
Ozil, whose contract at Emirates will expire at the end of this season, said this on Wednesday ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League tie with Chelsea on Saturday.
The former Real Madrid playmaker remains an Arsenal player, despite being left out of their Premier League and Europa League squads.
However, Guendouzi, is currently on loan at Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin, from Arsenal, after falling out of favour under Gunners manager, Mikel Arteta.
But Ozil feels the Frenchman still has a bright future at Arsenal despite being discarded by the North London club this season.
“@MatteoGuendouzi – I’m sure he will be a big football player one day!” Ozil wrote on Twitter when asked who is the most underrated footballer he has played with.
