The threat of impeachment against Buhari

By Adeleye Kunle

SINCE ABOUT TWO WEEKS, an impeachment threat against President Muhammadu Buhari has been brewing due to a series of governance failures, particularly insecurity.

The move, spearheaded primarily by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senate and House of Representatives members, has been dubbed “laughable” by Buhari’s Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed.

This raises the question of whether impeachment is necessary. What will it accomplish? Is it possible?

Buhari should have resigned or been impeached long ago if we had a truly functional, people-centered democracy. Apart from a few shining examples of good governance in the infrastructure sector, such as roads, bridges, and railways, little else can be cited.

Our security problems have spread from the North-East to the rest of the country, including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. While we mourn Boko Haram, ISWAP, and bandits’ terrorism, the Buhari administration not only condones the atrocities of armed Fulani militias in the Middle Belt and South, but it is also pursuing policies to seize indigenous peoples’ lands and water resources for the benefit of nomadic herdsmen.

Our debt load is so high that we are now paying more to our foreign creditors than we earn. The Nigerian naira is approaching 1,000 per US dollar. We are still unable to refine our oil locally, forcing us to set aside over N5 trillion for petrol subsidies, which Buhari called a “scam” as a candidate before his election in 2015. Unchecked oil theft is draining the economy. Nigeria is on the verge of total failure as a state.

Our leaders go abroad for medical treatment without hesitation. It acts as Santa Claus to Niger Republic and jihadist Afghanistan without due process. It has no solution to the ASUU strike, which has been ongoing for six months. The National Assembly, which is constitutionally mandated to check the Executive, has long abdicated its duties.

Most observers believe that a National Assembly led by Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila will not convict Buhari. Many people are skeptical that the same legislators who stand by and watch while the president spends our money on a $1.8 billion railway to Niger Republic will be willing to impeach him. Let them first impeach their presiding officers, and then we will listen to them.

Apart from a lack of will, impeaching a president is too difficult to attempt at this point in his presidency. Furthermore, he will undoubtedly use the armed forces to fight back, as we have seen him do in the past.

Rather than wasting time on a “dead on arrival” impeachment process, lawmakers should continue to put pressure on him about the problems we face. Next year, we should work harder to elect better leaders.

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