EX-Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) Board of Trustees Chief Tony Anenih has frowned upon alleged moves by PDP members in the Senate to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a letter to the Chairman of the party’s Caretaker Committee, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, Anenih asked Makarfi to call the PDP caucus in the National Assembly to order.
Anenih described the alleged move by the lawmakers as ill-advised and urged Makarfi to dissuade the PDP caucus from participating in the alleged plot.
According to the former BoT chair, the time was neither right nor the reasons compelling enough to contemplate impeachment of the President.
He urged the party chairman to lead the process of consultation with the PDP members, with a view to getting them to play a patriotic, rather than partisan role, at this time of national economic and social uncertainty.
Anenih’s letter reads: “I am constrained to write this letter by my love for our country and my years of involvement in the pursuit of peace, co-existence and national development.
“I am concerned about the noises coming out of the National Assembly to the effect that some of our senators and members are contemplating a move to impeach the President.
“I feel more disturbed that the PDP caucus is being rumoured to be involved in this plan to ‘go for the jugular’ of the Executive. The rumoured role of the PDP Caucus is, indeed, the main reason I have chosen to write this letter to you.
“I wish to appeal to you to use your noble office as the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of our great party to dissuade our party members, in the National Assembly, from embarking on or participating in this ill-advised adventure. I am persuaded, Sir, that the time is neither right nor the reasons compelling enough to contemplate the impeachment of the President.
“I do not doubt that the National Assembly may have its grouse against the President, but I am sure that the options of consultation, dialogue and negotiation have not yet been exhausted. We should all assist in persuading our members to persevere in the pursuit of these options.
“I do not believe an attempt at impeachment, at this time, is in the best interests of the party, or the country. Such a move will create tension, instability and even crisis in our body-politic. It will unleash all those fissiparous forces which, in the last few months, have begun to gain momentum.
“Fundamentally, as the main opposition party, I believe the PDP should concern itself with an inward review of why Nigerians lost faith in us and in our party’s vision for Nigeria; our focus should therefore be on trying to figure out how we can once again regain this trust.
“As a party in opposition, what I expect is constructive criticism of the ruling party when it goes wrong. Playing an active role in the internal power struggles between factions of the ruling party is an unnecessary distraction, and an exercise that appears to promote personal agenda rather than the National Interest.
“I am not unaware that the times are hard; that Nigerians are groaning under the weight of unpaid salaries and astronomical increases in the cost of living, that ballooning security problems are increasingly threatening to rip apart the fabric of our national existence.”
