TheNewsGuru

Tag: Impeach

  • Ekiti Assembly impeaches Deputy Speaker for second time

    Ekiti State House of Assembly on Thursday removed the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Segun Adewumi, for alleged gross misconduct.

    Adewumi, (Ekiti West Constituency I) in the assembly was elected on June 6, 2015 as the number two man in the Assembly.

    He was removed in 2018 by pro-Ayodele Fayose lawmakers for alleged disloyalty.

    The PDP lawmaker was reinstated as deputy speaker last year few days before Dr. Kayode Fayemi was inaugurated as governor.

    The Assembly elected Olaposi Omodara (Irepodun/Ifelodun constituency 1) as new Deputy Speaker.

    Adewumi was earlier impeached in May 2018.

    Back then, the Assembly accused Adewumi of committing several acts including personal conducts likely to bring the Assembly to disrepute, obvious threat to peace of members and obstruction of constitutional functions of ‘The House.’

    He was also accused of “dereliction, desertion, abscondment and abandonment of constitutional vested responsibilities of the Office of the Deputy Speaker.”

     

  • BREAKING: Ekiti lawmakers impeach speaker, deputy, others

    The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Kola Oluwawole, has been impeached.
    The Deputy Speaker, Sina Animasaun was also impeached.
    Both Oluwawole and Animasaun are members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
    Oluwawole, a staunch loyalist of Governor Ayo Fayose, was removed at about 11.00 am behind closed doors.
    The lawmakers elected the former Deputy Leader, Adeniran Alagbada while the Minority Leader, Gboyega Aribisogan, was elected as new House Leader of Business.
    Alagbada defected from PDP to APC in June alongside his political mentor, Prince Dayo Adeyeye.
    The change in leadership was believed to have been effected in anticipation of the change of government.
    Outgoing Governor Ayo Fayose will make way for the incoming Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who will be inaugurated on Tuesday.
     

  • Resign honourably or be impeached, Oshiomhole warns Saraki

    Resign honourably or be impeached, Oshiomhole warns Saraki

    The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has warned Senate President Bukola Saraki to resign if he doesn’t want to be humiliated out of office.

    The APC chairman also accused the senate president of never acting in the interest of Nigeria.

    He made this call on Friday during a press conference held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

    “Lastly, in support of my ‘thesis’ that the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki has never acted in the Nigeria National interest in view. My parlance submission is the way in which he adjourned the Senate about two weeks ago.

    “The Senate calender is not a secret to the presiding officer of the Senate. The Senate calender that was known was that the Senate was going to be adjourned by Thursday. By Tuesday morning, or Monday night, Senator Saraki used his guest house, write out the name of senators in provisions, straight for signatories for Senators to decamp to the PDP from the APC.”

    Mr Oshiomole, whose party has expressed contradictory stance on last week’s siege by security officials on the National Assembly, also opposed the stance of Mr Saraki on the matter.

    Saraki, who recently defected from the APC to the PDP, said the siege was to forcibly carry out his illegal removal.

    “How can a presiding officer arrive at such a conclusion that there was a plan to carry out illegal impeachment. Until an action takes place, how can you determine the status?” Mr Oshiomhole said.

    “But it is lawful to impeach anyone including the President of the Senate, including the deputy president of the Senate, if the number required to do so is present, so he cannot preempt, as they say, you don’t have to be a pathological liar before you understand this generally. Once you start with one lie, you will need serious of lies to support that one lie.

    “In any case, Saraki is not going to be the first senate president to be impeached and I doubt if he is going to be the last but definitely he will be impeached according to law and to democratic norms. The only way Saraki can avoid impeachment is for him to do what is honourable which again leads to the issue of character.”

    Making reference to Godswill Akpabio who resigned before defecting from the PDP to the APC, he said Mr Saraki should have resigned.

     

  • Akpabio: Buhari using EFCC to intimidate PDP senators to defect, impeach Saraki – R-APC

    Akpabio: Buhari using EFCC to intimidate PDP senators to defect, impeach Saraki – R-APC

    …accuses FG of wooing senators with N50m

    The Reformed All Progressives congress (R-APC) has accused the President Muhammadu Buhari led All Progressives Congress (APC) of using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intimidating senators (especially those with pending cases) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to defect to APC.

    The group also accused the APC government of trying to woo senators with N50 million to facilitate the removal of Senate President Bukola Saraki who recently defected from the APC.

    Recall that a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and incumbent Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio is said to be meeting the leadership of APC to finalise plans to decamp. He also met with President Buhari in London on Sunday.

    The rAPC made this known in a statement on Sunday by its publicity secretary, Kassim Afegbua.

    It did not provide any evidence to back the claim.

    “Part of the plot was to reach out to some PDP senators especially those who have EFCC queries in order to give them a clean bill of health once they defect to the APC. They also agreed to woo some senators with the sum of fifty million naira each.”

    The group said the Nigerian constitution clearly states the procedure for electing and removing a senate president and this should be adhered to.

    According to the rAPC, the APC plans to remove Mr Saraki by “hook or crook” for which a meeting was allegedly held at the residence of Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of APC.

    “The disputed leadership of the APC, working in cahoot with the Attorney General and Minister of Justice coupled with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation have perfected their plans to apply Gestapo methods to forcefully unseat the senate president.

    “A high-powered meeting of these persons was held at the Maitama residence of the disputed Chairman of the APC on Thursday, 2nd August, 2018 where they brainstormed on the possible ways to carry out their illegality.

    “Senator Abdullahi Adamu has been penciled down to succeed Distinguished Senator Bukola Saraki, amidst a host of other changes in the Senate’s principal officers. Once the Senate leadership is overthrown in a coup d’etat manner, the Senate will immediately consider the virement budget of the INEC and also approve the pending nominations in the Senate,” Afegbua wrote.

    Part of the plot, according to the R-APC, is to get a “friendly Judge” to legalise the removal.

    The APC however describes the allegations as false.

    “It is a cry of a drowning man. Kassim Afegbua and his cohorts are trying to elicit sentiment and to make futile attempt to dent the integrity of the APC led government. The reason why most of them are defecting is because the President Buhari led administration is not sharing money which is the PDP philosophy.

    “So this administration can not inject tax payers money into impeaching the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives. This is a serious government and not a dead party called the PDP,” the ruling party said in a statement by its spokesperson Yekini Nabena.

  • [Video] PDP reps caucus raise alarm over alleged plot to impeach Saraki

    The caucus of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the House of Representatives, has raised an alarm over an alleged plot by some senators loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari to impeach him Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who recently defected from the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC to PDP.

    The PDP caucus said the pro-Buhari lawmakers have perfected plans to force their ways into the chamber with the connivance of security agencies despite the fact that National Assembly is currently on a two-month annual recess.

    The Deputy Minority Leader of the House Chukwuka Onyema briefed reporters at the National Assembly yesterday evening where he said PDP lawmakers in the House would scuttle the plot by watching over the National Assembly.

    Onyema, who was flanked by about 10 members alleged senators, Abdullahi Adamu, Ovie Omo-Agege and Ali Ndume as being the arrowheads of the forceful takeover of the Senate chamber and the impeachment plot while the federal lawmakers are on their annual vacation.

    He said: “The aim of their invasion we are on recess is to come and sit illegally when everybody is on recess to impeach the Senate president.

    “We also have it on good authority that they are planning to come back this night and tomorrow morning aided by security forces; our own security forces whose job is to protect the lives of Nigerians.

    “They are the ones leading these dissident senators to come and truncate our democracy. We might think they want to take over the senate; that’s not what they want to do.

    “They want to truncate this democracy of ours. But we the PDP caucus has decided to stay here to keep vigil and wait to s what’s going to happen tonight and tomorrow night”.

    He , however, said it was time for Nigerians to rise up and defend the nation’s democracy, “This is not a rape on the National Assembly, it’s a rape on democracy which concerns all of us.

    “If we allow this to happen, then we can as well go back to when we use to have a military junta.

    “We also have some information that some policemen have arrived. We want to find out what they are doing here,” he added

  • FG using EFCC’s invitations as cover up to impeach me – Ekweremadu

    Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu on Monday raised alarm over alleged plans by the ruling All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government to impeach him from office.

    The Deputy Senate President however assured his supporters that he had absolute faith in God as he had done nothing wrong to warrant the continued harassment by the security agencies and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

    “So, my hands are clean. But if the EFCC wants me to come and answer that, I am prepared to answer any call from anybody as a responsible citizen. Even at that, I will continue to advocate justice, rule of law, and equity,” he said.

    The lawmaker said several attempts had been made to remove him as Deputy Senate President but failed.

    Ekweremadu said these when the Archbishop of Enugu Province, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, led a delegation of clergies of Enugu Diocese of the Church on a solidarity visit to his Enugu residence on Sunday evening.

    This was made known in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu, in Abuja on Monday.

    The Deputy Senate President said: “When people say they are not sure there is God, I say, ‘Come, let me tell you my story; when I finish my story, you will know whether there is God or not’ My story is one of those that establish actually that there is God. So, what you see now will also pass because there is no battle that God cannot fight for me.

    “There have been several attempts to remove me as the Deputy President of the Senate, but, I am not worried because it is God that gives power and it is only Him that can take it.”

    Ekweremadu pointed out that he had never been in a position to manage public finances or award contracts all through his political career.

  • BREAKING: 19 of 27 Imo lawmakers impeach Deputy Governor, Madumere

    19 out of the 27 members of the Imo State House of Assembly on Monday impeached the state’s Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere.

    Madumere was impeached reportedly impeached based on an indictment by a 7-man panel constituted by the state chief judge,Paschal Nnadi to investigate gross misconduct accusations leveled on his office [Madumere].

    However, Justice Ben Iheka of the Imo State High Court on Monday restrained the panel set up by the Chief Judge of the state, Nnadi, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Acho Ihim, and the State House of Assembly from taking any further action in the impeachment process of the state deputy governor, Eze Madumere, until the hearing and determination of the suit.

    The panel was set up by the chief judge to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct leveled against the deputy governor by the state House of Assembly.

    Justice Iheka also directed the three members of the impeachment panel that were yet to be served the motion for interlocutory injunction to respect the suit, which is before the court.

    Counsel to the deputy governor, Ken Njemanze (SAN), told the court that his client was ready and prepared to allow his impeachment process to be determined by the court.

    He said that his client was relying on the court to dispense justice in the matter which bordered on the person and office of the state’s Number Two citizen.

    Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Militus Nlemadim (SAN), said he was opposing the plaintiff’s request for the court to grant an interim order as sought by his colleague.

    Nlemadim said that instead of an interim order, there should be an accelerated hearing, stressing that the duty of the panel had already been spelled out by the Constitution.

    After hearing from the counsel, the court granted the request made by counsel to the embattled deputy governor and adjourned till August 13.

  • I can direct R-APC members in NASS to impeach anybody – Galadima

    I can direct R-APC members in NASS to impeach anybody – Galadima

    …says party now in the majority at NASS

    …as members meets today, decides next moves

    Members of the recently formed Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC) will hold a crucial meeting in Abuja on Monday (today).

    A reliable source in the R-APC faction of the All Progressives Congress on Sunday in Abuja saud that party leaders “are set to meet tomorrow (Monday) to take stock of the struggle” and forge a way forward.

    Asked if the recent Supreme Court decision which exonerated the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki of corruption charges and the recent peace moves by the Adams Oshiomhole-led APC would help mend fences, the source said “No.”

    He said, “The recent court victory has more than anything else, served as a morale booster for us. It was not only a victory for Bukola Saraki; it was a victory for the rule of law and a vindication of our earlier position that he was being persecuted because the charges against him were politically motivated.”

    The source further said, “The court decision has strengthened our resolve to forge ahead.”

    He was non-committal when asked for specifics on issues to be discussed.

    He said, “For strategic reasons, we set the agenda for such meetings on the go, leaders table issues, we put them on a scale of importance and discuss.

    “You, however, can’t rule out discussions on our next step as a result of the Supreme Court judgment and peace moves by the other side.”

    Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the R-APC, Buba Galadima, during an interview on Kakaaki, a programme on Africa Independent Television, said the R-APC now had enough lawmakers in the National Assembly to impeach anybody.

    He, therefore, dismissed claims by the National Chairman of the APC, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, that the party would not lose sleep over the rebel faction.

    The R-APC Chairman said, “Those who say they would not lose sleep, why have they gone cap in hand, kneeling down before members of the National Assembly? I want to say that today, as I sit here if I give directives to the National Assembly to impeach anybody for a constitutional infraction, it would be done because I have the majority in the National Assembly.”

  • Drama as senator accuses colleague of planning to impeach Saraki, Ekweremadu, others

    There was mild drama at plenary on Thursday as a senator representing Ebonyi Central (PDP), Obinna Ogba accuses his colleague, Abdullahi Adamu, who was recently removed as chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, of planning to impeach the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and other principal officers.

    Ogba on Thursday tendered “evidences” he claimed were phone conversations between Adamu and some other people on alleged plans to remove Saraki and other members of the Senate leadership.

    Coming under Order 43 of the Senate standing order, Ogba urged the Senate to investigate the matter.

    “I rise this morning to bring to the notice of the Senate that there is a plan by some people in this Senate, maybe under the leadership of my distinguished colleague, particularly Senator Abdullahi Adamu. Mr. President, you remember in January, distinguished Senator Misau made a comment here that there was a plan to remove the Senate President and in fact the leadership.

    “Now, I have reliable information that some people are already planning to destabilise the Senate, including the Senate leadership by organising demonstration of which money is already exchanging hands. I believe that all of us are all leaders in this in this country and everybody who sees something that will destabilise the country or the Senate or even the democracy should avoid it. As we are here, if there is any going on, you have the opportunity to raise, not to go outside the chambers to start planning civil resistance; market women to come for demonstration against the leadership of the Senate.

    “Mr. President, I want this Senate to investigate this matter properly, I have evidence to show what I’m saying. There is a telephone conversation going on which any other person can also print it out, between senator Abdullahi Adamu and some other people.

    “When senator Misau raised it in January we didn’t take it as anything, I am saying this, we must stand up to look into this.”

    Mr. Ogba, after his presentation, proceeded to tender what he called ‘documentary evidences’ against Mr. Adamu.

    The Senate resolved to refer the matter to the committee on petitions to report back in two weeks.

    Ike Ekweremadu, who presided, pleaded with anyone planning to destabilise the country to desist from doing so.

    “The difference between military, autocratic regime and any other oppressive regime is the parliament. Once we remove the parliament, there is going to be problem. In whatever we do, we must continue to preserve the sanctity of the parliament. I want to appeal again that anyone planning to destabilise this country is not doing us any good,” he said.

    Recall that in January, while speaking on the appointment of the Director General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Abubakar, Isa Misau, Bauchi-APC accused a minister of leading a plot to remove the Senate President.

    “When we were on holiday, so many people were going behind that they should try and remove the senate president. And it was a minister that was spearheading that thing. What is the reason, they said that the senate president would leave APC that they should create problems for him (Saraki). What kind of country is this? Everything is about religion, about tribe,” he said

  • Katsina Assembly Speaker, Aliyu Sabiru impeached

    The Speaker of the Katsina State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Aliyu Sabiu Muduru has been impeached.

    Muduru was impeached by 23 out of the 34 state lawmakers in the assembly.

    After the impeachment, the House elected Yahaya Kusada as the new Speaker.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that reasons for Muduru’s impeachment are yet to be ascertained, however, the Assembly has been engaged in a leadership struggle since April 2016 when House Leader, Lawal Kuraye and Chief Whip, Bishir Mamman were ‘forced’ to resign or be impeached.

    Muduru and most of the principal officers were also under intense pressure to resign at the time due to the determination of the state lawmakers to bring a new leadership on board.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the 34-year-old former speaker, who was until his impeachment, the youngest speaker in the country, was elected in a controversial election in 2015.