The Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, has dismissed the threat to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari over the country’s acute insecurity as “mere gossip”.
Opposition lawmakers had threatened to kick-start impeachment proceedings against Buhari if the security situation is not improved after six weeks. However, critics described the threat as empty considering the stringent process for impeaching a president as contained in Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Kalu said though no lawmaker is talking about impeaching Buhari owing to the improved security situation, any attempt to raise the issue on the floor of the Senate will fail as the ruling party has the required numbers to defend the president.
The lawmaker, while speaking with journalists at the National Assembly in Abuja on Tuesday, said “The issue of impeachment is a non-existing issue. Nobody is talking about it. Even if they try, they will fail because we have the numbers to resist it.
“President Buhari has done well in some areas and failed in some areas. The impeachment threat is a mere gossip. It is not possible. I know that senators were agitating about insecurity. You can see that security situation is improving.
“Generally, there is a daily improvement on security. We want to see the tempo being sustained. When the tempo is sustained, no senator will mention impeachment of the president on the floor of the Senate,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kalu said it would be difficult for any Igbo to win the presidency without zoning the seat to the South East.
He said the presidency was not a regional issue and could only be won with the support of other geo-political zones.
He, therefore, urged his fellow Igbo politicians eyeing the presidency to wait for another time when the political parties would agree to zone the ticket to the South East.