The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday asked the National Assembly (NASS) to commence the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari for what it called ‘various constitutional breaches’ on an alleged submission of two versions of the 2006 budget.
The PDP Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, in a statement he personally signed, after a meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), also called on National Assembly to investigate the alleged ‘distortion and banding of figures to accommodate personal interest’.
Secondus, who said that appropriate sanctions should be meted to whoever had a hand in the action, asked the Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning to resign for allegedly failing to provide the capacity in the management of the nation’s economy, resulting in the crashing of the nation’s currency to as low as N305 to a dollar.
The party also called for the resignation of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for allegedly plunging the country’s currency policy into ‘chaos’.
It advised the government to stop pretending that it knew what to do ‘when feelers from the seat of power shows clearly that Nigerians by voting for the All Progressives Congress (APC) have just discovered they boarded a once chance bus’.
“We sympathize with Nigerians who are seriously undergoing terrible hardship because of the now obvious inept leadership of the APC despite the promise of one Naira to a dollar.
“What hope can a government that allows its currency to break a 43 year old record crashing to over N300 to one dollar offer and yet does not show it has clear focus of what to do,” he added.
It should be recalled that the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on Thursday said the report of the ad hoc committee set up to investigate the claims of the missing 2016 budget proposal indicated that the Senate received two versions of the document from the Presidency.
According to Saraki, the Senate received one version of the budget directly from President Muhammadu Buhari and the other from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang.
The Senate President, who stated this in a series of tweets on his official Twitter handle on Thursday, insisted that the budget was never missing as was being claimed.
He, however, said the Senate would accept only the budget presented directly by President Buhari.
He said, “The budget was never missing. While the President submitted one, his Senior Special Assistant, Ita Enang, submitted another. Hence the reason for an investigation!
“Today, the Senate received the report of the ad hoc committee setup to investigate the claims of the missing 2016 Budget.
“The report of the committee revealed that the Senate received two versions of the 2016 Appropriation Bill – one from President Muhammadu Buhari at the December 22nd, 2015 Joint Session of the National Assembly, and another from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang.
“The Senate will only accept the version of the appropriation bill that was presented by the President.”
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress, APC has told the PDP that Nigeria was not a banana republic.
The party also dismissed another call by the PDP to sack Ministers and the governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
In a statement by the national secretary of APC, Mai Mala Buni, APC reminded the PDP that Nigeria was a country governed by a set of laws.
The statement read thus:
“The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to Thursday’s comical statement credited to the acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Uche Secondus calling for the removal of President Muhammadu Buhari, resignation of two ministers and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by the National Assembly.
“The APC wishes to remind the PDP that Nigeria is not a Banana Republic, but a country governed by laws.
“It is confusing and worrisome that the PDP calls for an investigation into the budget issue and at the same time calls for the removal and resignation of the aforementioned.
“In both content and context, PDP’s statement constitutes a distraction to the National Assembly.
“The APC is confident that the 8th National Assembly will not be distracted by the PDP in its new desperate plot to divert attention from the ongoing investigation into mind-boggling cases of corruption perpetuated under its defunct 16-year rule.
“Nigerians are still shocked and recovering from the wanton looting perpetuated in the last 16 years under the PDP. We invite the PDP to supports current efforts aimed at social, economic and institutional reforms.”
