Impeachments part of APC plot to stop further defections – Source

The alleged attempt by a group of Senators loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari, led by Ovie Omo- Agege to storm the Senate chamber to effect the impeachment and the removal of President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu, even when the lawmakers are on recess has been confirmed by a reliable source, who preferred anonymity.

Although the said plot was allegedly foiled by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers, the source told our correspondent that the July 24 defections of 14 senators and 37 members of the House of Representatives threw the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Presidency into panic and they are masterminding whatever measures within their disposal to stop further defection.

According to the source, Tuesday’s defection of Saraki, the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and Wednesday’s defection of the Governor of Sokoto State, Waziri Tambuwal and the earlier defection of influential Kano lawmaker Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, from the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), dazed the ruling party and the Presidency.

The source added that there is frenetic and precipitate strategy to avert an imminent second wave of defection, which will be more disastrous for the party when the lawmakers reconvene in September.

“The government despite the bold face they are putting are apprehensive. The plotters have perfected the act to impeach Saraki and Ekweremadu and use other highhanded measures to deal with the other defectors including mass arrests and detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on trump up charges.

“The reason for the anger in the Presidency and the APC is that the much maligned PDP has now been rejuvenated and its rank has been swollen by the former APC members who joined the main opposition party. It now appears as if all the propaganda mounted to destroy the PDP is now being perceived by the public as deceit by the APC.

“The APC is terribly disturbed that if the PDP returned to power in 2019, key figures in the current administration and especially President Buhari will be subjected to ridicule”, the source said.

The aim of the APC moves to stop the gale of defection sweeping across the country is to sustain the advantage in some states calculated to be vital to reelection bid of President Buhari across the regions.

In Imo State, the strong hold of the APC in the Southeast, Governor Rochas Okorocha, a staunch ally of Buhari, allegedly recruited the state lawmakers to impeach the deputy governor, Eze Madumere, who is said to be a threat to the governor’s quest to allegedly impose his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu as the next governor of the state in 2019. Madumere is also said to be poised to return the state to the PDP, once he is voted governor, which will erase any tinge of support for Buhari in the region where he got some of his worst results in 2015.

Madumere, who is seeking to replace Governor Rochas Okorocha in 2019, was impeached on Monday by 19 of the 27 members of the Imo State House of Assembly despite a Court order restraining them.

The Imo State High Court presided over by Justice Ben Iheka had on July 30, restrained the Chief Judge of the state and the legislators from the impeachment proceedings. Madumere was accused of abandoning his duties and failing to carry out official duties assigned to him by the Governor, among other misdemeanor.

Reacting, the impeached Deputy Governor in a statement by his media aide, Uche Onwuchekwa said “the state House of Assembly has become a mere stooge in the hands of the governor.

“In disobedience to the restraining order against the Chief Judge, the seven-man panel, Speaker and members of Imo State House of Assembly from further action on the controversial impeachment proceeding against the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere, the House of Assembly in Gestapo manner, has removed the Deputy Governor of the state from office.

“The Presiding Judge of High Court 8, Justice Benjamin Iheka had restrained the seven-man panel of Inquiry constituted by the Chief Judge, Justice Paschal Nnadi, the Chief Judge, Speaker and members of Imo State House of Assembly over a matter brought before the court that bothers on constitutional breaches in the procedure adopted to remove the Deputy Governor from the office.

“The Acho Ihim-led faction of the members of the House sponsored by Governor Okorocha against the Court Order and the rule of law illegally removed the Deputy Governor in a kangaroo manner.

“Against the requirement of the law, Prince Madumere was not given fair hearing as he was neither invited during the sitting of the investigative committee in the House of Assembly nor by the seven-man panel set up the Chief Judge.”

The judges in the state have reportedly refused to swear in the anointed successor of Madumere, Calistus Ekenze in another unfolding drama in the state.

The impeachment bug hit Benue state, when on July 30, 8 out of the 30 legislators allegedly aided by the Nigeria police stormed the state house of assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against Governor Samuel Ortom ostensibly for alleged corruption.

Governor Ortom recently defected from APC to PDP, a development the high echelon of the ruling party described as an affront on the party and a threat to the ambition of the president in the state, which citizens have been largely killed by the Fulani herdsmen.

However, the impeachment of Ortom failed as the high court in Makurdi, capital of Benue state, restrained the eight members led by former speaker Terkibir Ikyange of the state assembly from proceeding with the impeachment process on Wednesday, August 1, 2018. Ikyange was removed as the Speaker of the Benue state House of Assembly.

The presiding judge, Theresa Igoche also ordered security agencies to leave the premises of the assembly.

In the same vein on July 30 the Speaker of the Kano state House of Assembly Abdullahi Ata was also impeached by the state legislators which governor Abdullahi Ganduje welcomed as good for democracy describing the impeachment as a smooth transition.

But pundits said that the impeachment of Ata is to consolidate the powers of the Governor, who has promised to deliver 5 million votes to Buhari in 2019 especially now that the two political heavy weights in the state, Kwankwaso and Ibrahim Shekarau are backing the PDP.

But the PDP has warned that the ‘contrived impeachments’ will not augur well for Nigerian democracy. The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, deplored the purported service of impeachment notice on Benue Governor, Ortom, by eight members of the House of Assembly.

The statement said: “The NWC of the PDP condemns in its entirety the purported sitting of eight APC members, including the impeached and suspended Speaker.

“This purported happened in a 30-member House, wherein they illegally claimed to have served an impeachment notice on the Governor of Benue, Dr Samuel Ortom.”

Ologbondiyan admonished PDP members, particularly those in Benue, to remain firm in their quest to sustain the nation’s democracy.

Innocent Odoh, Abuja