By Odunewu Segun
The People’s Democratic Party through its National Working Committee has asked National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against President Muhammadu Buhari over controversies surrounding the 2016 budget.
In a statement by its National Chairman, Uche Secondus, the recent allegations by the Senate that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Solomon Ita Enang circulated fake copies of the budget proposal to NASS is enough grounds to impeach the president.
The party urged the National Assembly not to sweep the matter under the carpet as it constitutes serious executive recklessness. It therefore urged the National Assembly to ensure that appropriate sanctions were meted out to whoever had a hand in the dubious action that has brought embarrassment to the legislative body.
The party also asked the Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning to resign “having failed to provide the much- needed capacity in the management of the nation’s economy resulting in the embarrassing crashing of the nation’s currency to as low as N305 to a dollar.”
Similarly, the party asked Emefiele to resign for plunging the country’s currency policy into chaos, an action, it claimed, had thrown investors into total confusion.
However, Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed maintained that he would not comment on the statement until he had seen it.
“I won’t speak on it for two reasons: I must first look at the PDP statement and consult with key ministers before speaking on it,” he said.
But the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Timi Frank, said the presidency had made it clear that it submitted the document to the Senate. “The party stands by that,” he stated.
On the PDP’s call, he said: “They are just being mischievous; they are still suffering from the loss because they know that they cannot stand the political game right now. Nigerians have seen them as the ones that have destroyed Nigeria for the past 16 years.
“We call on Nigerians to disregard their call. We call on Nigerians to support the president and the change agenda.”
According to the Senate, the fake copies, which were brought by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Solomon Ita Enang, were completely different from the copy of the N6.08 trillion 2016 budget proposal presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015.
The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who made the allegation at the executive session, declared that the upper legislative chamber would treat only the original copy of the budget proposal as presented by Buhari last Month.
However, the Presidency has said it is not prepared to engage the National Assembly in a war of words over the 2016 budget. It said it would rather build on the existing cordial relationship between the two arms of government.