The House of Representatives on Friday refused to rule out the possibility of initiating impeachment moves against President Goodluck Jonathan when it resumes next week.
House Committee Chairman on Information, Hon Zakari Mohammed, said that such a step would be taken if members raised it on the floor of the chamber.
He stated this during an interaction with newsmen in Abuja.
The House and the Senate are expected to resume next Tuesday from their annual recess. Although the House spokesman denied that such moves are currently being made, he said every issue including impeachment moves against the President brought to the House would be discussed on its merit.
According to him, “we will look at every issue brought by members on its merit. I can’t tell you that this and this is what we will do, it will depend on what members bring to the chamber.”
Mohammed also stated that the crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which commands majority in the House and Senate, would break the party if it is not resolved quickly.
He claimed that the crisis would certainly affect the business of the House as it resumes sitting because of its vantage status in the House and the country in general.
Mohammed stressed that, in view of the majority position of the PDP in the House, whatever affected it would definitely affect the whole House and beyond.
Currently, the PDP has a total of 208 members in the lower Chamber, while the All Progressives Congress (APC) controls one 137 members.
Mohammed, who did not pretend in announcing his membership of the factional PDP, argued that it was not possible for the crisis in the majority party not to influence the activities of the House in the coming legislative year, saying that more aggrieved members would still join the “New PDP”.
The politician from Kwara State, therefore warned that if the stakeholders failed to resolve the crisis promptly, it would be difficult to use the party as a platform to win any elections in Nigeria in the near future.
It would be recalled that about 57 members of the PDP in the House recently declared their allegiance to the Kawu Baraje-led PDP faction as a result of their disenchantment with the recent national convention of the party in the nation’s political capital, Abuja.
On other issues that would be in the front burner as the House resumes, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs noted that the constitutional review process, Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and strengthening the House oversight of the MDAs would be given priority attention by the lawmakers.
On the discrepancies in some of the items passed by both Senate and the House in the on-going constitution review process, the committee boss said that a conference committee would be raised to address the grey areas so that the National Assembly would come up with a common position in all the issues to be reviewed.
He further pointed out that the House standing Committee on Education was giving enough attention to the persistent strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), saying that the situation did not require the whole House to summon an emergency session as suggested by some political analysts.
Source: Daily Independent
