The House of Representatives on Wednesday denied that it planned to remove President Goodluck Jonathan from office.
The denial came amid speculation that
Jonathan might be the target of a controversial constitutional amendment
bill before the House.
The bill, which sought absolute powers for the House to impeach the President, passed second reading on Tuesday.
The sponsor of the bill, Mr. Yakubu
Dogara, sought to amend Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution by
transferring the power to impeach the President to the House.
After impeaching the President on
allegations of gross misconduct, the bill provides that the Senate shall
sit as a court to convict him.
It further provides that the session of the Senate to try the President shall be presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
However, if the session absolves him of any wrongdoing, the impeachment ceases to have effect, according to the bill.
Dogara had explained that the new
proposal would replace the current provision requiring the CJN to raise a
panel of seven to investigate allegations of misconduct levelled
against the President by the National Assembly.
He claimed that the current provision
weighed in favour of the President because the CJN was his appointee and
would make efforts to save him.
Amid the speculation that Jonathan might
be the target, House spokesman, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, clarified on
Wednesday that the bill was not about a particular President.
He stated that the aim was to “simplify the process of removing an errant President from office.”
Mohammed added, “We have no intention to impeach President Jonathan.
“The bill seeks to simplify the process of removing an errant President from office so that the system can be self-correcting.
“If you look at the present arrangement, the CJN is an appointee of the President.
“There are ambiguities in the process of removing an errant President.
“We need a system that is self-correcting so that we don’t wake up one day and hear ‘fellow Nigerians.’”
But, on Tuesday, the majority of
lawmakers had opposed the bill during debate, describing it as
“undemocratic” and “waste of parliamentary time.”
However, the ruling on the voice vote by the presiding Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, gave it to the “ayes.”
On the $7m bounty the US placed on the
leader of the Boko Haram sect, Mr. Abubakar Shekau, the spokesman told
reporters that the House was “totally behind the President.”
He recalled that the House had not
hidden its opposition to the violent activities of the sect, adding that
it would continue to support any measures to stop the group.
“We solidly support Mr. President in his
fight against all forms of criminality. We have condemned the
activities of the sect in the past.
“What Jonathan is doing is also in line with the Legislative Agenda of the House”, Mohammed said.
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