A Senior
Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Paul Ananaba, has advised members of the ruling All
Progressives Congress, APC, in the National Assembly against using force to
remove Senate President Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of
Representative, Yakubu Dogara, from office.
The senior
lawyer called for a judicial intervention to determine the fate of the Saraki
and Dogara, on whether they should continue in their offices as members of the
minority Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
He also
stated that asking for the presiding officers’ resignation or plotting their
impeachment from outside the National Assembly would not lead to a solution.
He stated
that under current system of government practiced in the country and with the
provisions of the 1999 constitution, only senators and House members were
legally empowered to remove their presiding officers.
Ananaba, who
spoke ahead of Tuesday’s resumption of the National Assembly, argued that
“outsiders” calling for the resignation or impeachment of a presiding officer
were merely expressing personal opinions.
“The issue
of resignation is left to an individual to decide whether he wants to resign or
not. Impeachment has a procedure in the constitution. So, nobody should put
pressure on them since they are not infants. Saraki and Dogara are
knowledgeable enough to know what impeachment or resignation means,” the senior
lawyer was quoted by Punch as saying.
“If anyone
feels that they should resign and they have not resigned, the person should
head to court, not to put them under pressure. There is no provision of law
requiring them to resign or leave their seats because they left one party for
another.
“In any
case, there are crises in the political parties, which in themselves are
sufficient grounds for defection.
“What I will
say is that it lies with the members of the National Assembly to decide on
their own to take any actions against their presiding officers, not outsiders.
“The
Chairman of the APC (Adams Oshiomhole) is not a member of the National
Assembly. All he says is his mere opinion, which is not binding on members of
the National Assembly."
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