By Emman Ovuakporie
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Reps Caucus has said that there’s only one gate separating the National Assembly from Aso Rock, yet President Muhamnadu Buhari failed to honor the House invitation to explain why he has failed to combat insecurity in Nigeria.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports the lingering issue of Buhari’s deliberate refusal to appear before Reps and explain why banditry, terrorism, kidnapping has remained a recurring decimal in Nigeria.
Recall that the House had invited the President after Borno Lawmakers moved a motion to compel him to appear and explain the situation in Borno after 48 farmers were garrooted in their farms.
The PDP apparently peeved on Thursday addressed the House press corps where it renewed the call to constituents accros party line to ask their reps in NASS to start throwing articles of impeachment against President Buhari.
Leader of the Caucus, Rep Kingsley Ogundu Chinda (PDP-Rivers) alongside his colleagues said there’s only one gate separating NASS office from Buhari’s office complex yet he failed to honor a simple invitation.
Hear the caucus:
With due regard to the nation’s mournful mood and worsening anxieties, the House of Representatives led by the Speaker. Femi Gbajabiamila, had invited President Buhari over rising insecurity across the federation. climaxed by the killing of over 43 farmers in Borno State and the kidnapping of hundreds of school boys.
” This contributes to the worsening profile of Nigeria in the comity of nations where she regrettably occupies the third most terrorised country in the world after Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Only one gate separates the National Assembly Complex from the presidential villa but it appears easier for a donkey to pass through the eye of a needle than for President Buhari to pass through the gate and address us on extremely serious security issues daily consuming the lives of our people.
“Less than twenty-four hours to the scheduled address over such weighty matters that 4 involve lives of Nigerian citizens in the hands of all manners of forest bandits, international terrorists, unrestrained highway kidnapping gangs and a host of other anarchists; it became apparent that the seriousness Nigerians attach to these issues is not shared by Nigeria‘s Presidency.
In the pasti the sharing of mutual concerns over citizens‘ security by the Presidency and the National Assembly had yielded some positive impact including huge budgetary ai’ocai’ons for ‘he Presidency’s purported plans to put an end to insecurity. indeed, since 2015 when the APC administration assumed power, the National Assembly has conscientiously done all within its power to appropriate hundreds of billions of Naira to facilitate the realization of APC’s core promises focused on economy, security and curbing corruption.
“We are witnesses to the master/servant relationship between both arms of government festered by the almost imposition of the leadership of both chambers by the same APC government which recently absurdly constituted a joint committee of both arms of government chaired by the Vice President under the guise of fostering a better relationship between the Legislature and the Executive which in itself is an indictment of a government unable to work harmoniously with a National Assembly whose leadership in both chambers and majority are APC members. This kangaroo joint committee has obviously been ineffectual yielding nothing positive to Nigerians till date while this APC government relentlessly continues its undemocratic attempts to gag, disregard and denigrate the National Assembly which is the watchdog of the nation; the citadel of our democracy and the custodian of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which this government consistently observe more in breach.
“Do 206 million Nigerians feel any safer today enough to justify the trillions of Naira so far spent by this administration on curbing insecurity? Under the guise of enhancing security, this administration has spent hundreds of billions of Naira on surveillance of her own citizens which is astronomically more than the entire sums spent by previous administrations in this regard from 1999 to 2015!
The PDP lawmakers did not spare the spokesperson of the House, Hon Benjamin Kalu who went personal in a statement he issued immediately after the PDP caucus called on constituents to demand for the sack of Buhari.
Kalu had in the statement he issued described the PDP caucus leader as a lone ranger.
But the caucus replied on Thursday statiing the obvious that Kalu was pre-emptive as events unfolding clearly indicate that Mr President will not honour the invitation.
Hear the caucus:
Hon Ben Kalu, the Spokesperson of the House disingenuously postulated last week
after the issuance of our initial statement in this regard that our position was personal
opinion of the caucus leader and pre—emptive, considering the expected visit of Mr
President He should now learn from the unveiling events to stick to his line of duty
and not be the mouthpiece of the executive or individual members of the House but
that of the House as an institution.
By_ the opinion of Hon. Kalu the spokesperson of the House, this is the right time for
this call. the President having failed to keep to his promise to honour the invitation of
the House.