With Looming Impeachment Threat: President Jonathan Ready to Work With House

Barely 48 hours after the House of Representatives threatened to commence impeachment proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan over alleged poor implementation of this year’s budget, the president has made overtures to the House in a bid to resolve the differences between the executive and the legislature.


He was said to have met the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, at the weekend where the president sued for a rancour-free relationship with the lower chamber.

Media gathered that at the meeting, the Speaker agreed in principle that the House would work with the president without antagonism, but maintained that the president overreached himself by recalling the suspended director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms Aruma Oteh, contrary to the decision of the House Committee on Capital Market.
The Speaker also blamed the president for the frequent face-offs, saying when the House has passed a resolution, there is very little he can do.

Also at the weekend, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party expressed worry over the standoff between the Presidency and the House and indicated an intention to intervene in an attempt to help restore harmony.

The Media learnt that the PDP leadership had been worried about the increasingly bitter relations between the House and the Presidency, despite the party’s overwhelming majority in the National Assembly.

Majority of lawmakers in the lower chamber had on Thursday sternly berated the president for implementing only about 35 per cent of the N4.7 trillion budget passed by the senate and the House of Representatives on March 15. They adopted a motion by the Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, which gave Jonathan till September to achieve full implementation of the budget or the House would “begin to draw up articles of impeachment” against the president.

The latest faceoff came shortly after a similar row over an invitation by the House to the president to come and brief members in an executive session on his administration’s effort to tackle the frightening rate of insecurity in the country.

But sources close to the PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, said he had been worried about the seemingly serial confrontation between the House and the Presidency.

“The national chairman was not happy over this cat-and-mouse relationship between the House and the Presidency. He is worried because the National Assembly and, indeed, the House is dominated by the PDP and this majority should be seen as avenue of strength and not constant bickering,” a source said.

He quoted the national chairman as saying, “Just last month, it was the question of the House of Representatives in session summoning the president, Goodluck Jonathan, to appear before the House to explain the security situation in the country.

“This matter is yet to be sorted out, then this threat of impeachment over the allegation of non-implementation of the 2012 budget.”

Tukur viewed the frequent rows between the president and the lower chamber, where his party has a near absolute majority, with unconcealed disgust, the source said.

“Our dominance at the National Assembly with almost two third of the entire House of Representatives should be used as a source of strength, advantage and not unnecessary quarrels. PDP as the ruling party produced both [the majority of] the House of Representatives members and President Jonathan. We will not allow this cat-and-mouse relationship,” Tukur was quoted as telling some PDP chieftains Friday night.

The Media learnt that Tukur and some members of the PDP National Working Committee might have commenced behind-the-scenes fence-mending moves involving meetings with principal officers of the House of Representatives to try to strike a compromise between the House and the Presidency.

“The chairman believes that whatever that is right through dialogue would be adopted to ensure that the polity is not unnecessarily overheated.

“The national chairman will use the period of this fasting to meet all the stakeholders and ensure that before the House resumes from the break, that the matter will be amicably resolved in the overall interest of the country.


“Elders don’t stay at home and the goats will give birth tied. The party will certainly meet the president and the principal officers of the House of Representatives,” a source said.

It would be recalled that the House had on June 19 summoned the president to appear before it in a “closed-door session” to brief lawmakers on the measures by his administration to protect lives and property in the country. This followed bomb attacks on churches in Kaduna by Islamic extremists of the Boko Haram sect and consequent reprisals, which in all killed at least 100 people, left hundreds wounded, and destroyed property worth tens of millions of naira.

There was also a near state of anarchy in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, following Boko Haram attacks, while Zamfara State was virtually besieged by bandits.

Tension between the House and the president was heightened by his decision to go on with his scheduled visit to Brazil for the Earth Summit, despite the alarming security situation.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/impeachment-threat-president-jonathan-ready-to-work-with-house/120573/