Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara has revealed why it is not possible to impeach a Nigerian sitting President from office.
Dogara disclosed that the 1999 Constitution makes it impossible to impeach a president. He, therefore, advocated that Nigeria should change to a parliamentary system of government.
According to the former Speaker, the impeachment process stated in the 1999 Constitution makes it impossible to remove a sitting president. No matter his offence.
Dogara made this disclosure on Monday at a National Dialogue organized by a group of lawmakers pushing for a transition to a parliamentary system.
IVNTVNEWS recalls that a group of 60 lawmakers sponsored a bill for the transition to the parliamentary system. They advocated for abolishing of the office of the president and creating the office of a prime minister.
Supporting to call for a parliamentary system, Dogara stated that the current presidential system was wrongly copied from the United States. He noted that the system was copied without considering the differences between the US and Nigeria.
He said, “In Nigeria, Section 143 doesn’t offer any practical framework for impeachment. At the end of the day, all the National Assembly’s efforts are handed over to a panel of politicians they call people of impeccable character.
“I don’t know where we can find these ‘angels.’ Their determination is final and cannot be challenged by the National Assembly or any court in Nigeria. And these seven people of ‘impeccable character’ are appointed by the CJN, who is appointed by the president. So, how can this system work in reality?”
Another former Governor and Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, described the current situation in Nigeria as “deep in trouble”. He, therefore, called for radical intervention.
Aregbesola warned that the decline in the economic, political and spiritual condition of Nigerians could trigger a revolution.
The former on Interior reiterated that the idea of a single man to govern 220 million Nigerians is “a joke.”
“Whatever does not give appropriate opportunity or rights to the people will be resisted, no matter what you do. If other things fail, people can revolt. If we are conscious of all this and understand the consequences of things getting out of hand, we would be interested in finding the best ways to govern ourselves,” he said.
source: Daily Post
Follow us for more news on our WhatsApp News Channels @
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaC505jB4hdZ5Yx9g82U
