Some prominent lawyers in the country and civil society group, the National Democratic Front (NDF) last night expressed divergent views over the planned impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan by some House of Representatives members.
Already, some members of the House have started collating signatures to commence impeachment procedure against the President over the incident at the National Assembly last Thursday.
A senior advocate, Mr. Ahmed Raji, who spoke with our correspondent in Abuja, said the Honourable members in the House alone cannot impeach President Jonathan.
According to him, the Senate must also agree to commence impeachment proceedings.
“When talking about impeachment, there is a committee that should be set up by the Chief Justice of Nigeria to determine some of the allegations against the President. The House alone cannot impeach him, the Senate too must agree before any impeachment must take place.
On the call for the resignation of the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba over the incident, the senior advocate and a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria said the IGP should be given an audience before we jump into conclusion.
“I don’t agree that the IGP should resign for what his men allegedly did at the National Assembly. We should listen to him before we blame anybody. We should not jump into conclusion on this matter. We should find out why the officers of the IGP did what they have done before shifting blame,” Raji said.
Another senior advocate, Chief Adeniyi Akintola put the blame on the doorstep of the IGP. He told the Reps members to call for the resignation of the IGP and urged politicians in the country to be careful not to put the country’s democracy on the line.
He said, “what I expect the House to do is to call for his resignation. Politicians in the country should be careful not to put our democracy on the line. I will also blame the council of state for rushing to confirm his (IGP) appointment. A more matured person should have been made the IGP”.
In his own view, Chief Awa Kalu, SAN, said what members of the NASS are playing is politics which would be resolved politically.
“If they are planning impeachment, they know what to do. What is going on now is politics which will dissolve politically,” he said.
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Lawyers disagree over impeachment of President Jonathan
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