The House of Representatives yesterday passed for second reading a bill seeking to make the impeachment process of the president and vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria less ambiguous.
The bill was passed amidst intense debate.
Leading the debate, the lead sponsor of the bill, Yakubu Dogara (PDP Bauchi), while advocating its passage, said: “The essence of the bill is meant to hold the executive accountable so that checks can be created, and it is not meant to target this term but rather make the process less ambigous on grounds of misconduct. Let’s all look at this and do it in the interest of Nigerians.”
The debate was devoid of any bipartisan politics as the House Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN) joined those opposing the bill. He argued that the bill, if passed into law, may be subject to other ambiguities since gross misconduct can be subjective and redefined in any case. In his submission, he further urged the House to be mature with the passage of the bill as it may send wrong signals to the public.
“I will very quickly go on to shoot the bill down”, Gbajabiamila said. “The timing of the bill is wrong and people will read meanings into to it; we must be mature about. The United States House of Representatives were caught up in something similar when the impeachment of President Clinton was going as regards to his affair with an intern.”
The bill in question seeks to copy the American model of impeaching a president by making the process less complex. The lawmakers seek to initiate the process and investigate it rather than the process lying solely with the chief of justice of the federation.
Though the bill seemed to be skewed towards rejection as most members aired similar opinions to that of the minority leader, but when it was put to voice vote it scaled through.
Source: Leadership
