- A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has warned the APC against any plan to impeach the Senate president Bukola Saraki
- Falana said the party cannot remove Saraki without the support of two-third majority of the National Assembly
- He noted that it is pertinent to examine relevant provisions of the constitution on the matter
Renowned human rights advocate and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, on Sunday, August 5, cautioned the All Progressives Congress (APC) against any plan to impeach the Senate president Bukola Saraki.
Channels TV reports that Falana said Saraki can not be impeached without the required two-third majority of the entire members of the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
He also noted that since the recent defection of a number of legislators from the ruling party has generated some controversy, it is pertinent to examine relevant provisions of the constitution and decided judicial authorities on the matter.
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According to him, “The planned removal of the Senate president Bukola Saraki by the APC should be stopped as it cannot stand.”
“But the crass opportunism of the APC cannot legitimise the prostitution of the political system,” he said.
“Having decamped from the APC, which sponsored their elections, the R-APC defectors ought to resign from the legislative houses and seek a fresh mandate from the electorate.
“In order to curb the dangerous trend, some aggrieved members of the constituencies of the defectors ought to contest the legal validity of the refusal to resign from the affected legislative houses.”
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Also citing the decision of the Supreme Court in a case between Abegunde v Ondo State House of Assembly (2014), the senior advocate admitted that the defection of the R-APC legislators from the APC to the PDP and ADC “can be impugned under section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution.”
Since the APC had allowed legislators to decamp from the PDP to join its fold recently, Falana noted that the ruling APC “lacks the moral and political right to condemn the defection of the R-APC legislators.”
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that the Nigerian government said the defection of the Senate president from the ruling APC was a great relief to the party.
The federal government said that Saraki was always an opposition in the ruling party, who used his position as Senate president to frustrate the workings of the government.
The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, who stated this while briefing state House correspondents after the weekly meeting of the FEC, presided over by President Buhari at the Villa, said Saraki had become the greatest obstacle to the government.
Nigeria News: Will Senators, Lawmakers’ Defection from APC Change Power in 2019? - on NAIJ.com TV:
Source: Naija.ng
