The face-off between the House of Reps and President Goodluck Jonathan continued on Thursday as some lawmakers served Mr. Jonathan a shocking impeachment warning, threatening to remove him from office if the 2012 budget is not fully implemented by September.
The impeachment warning by the Lawmakers followed a motion by Femi Gbajabiamila, Minority Leader.
Citing an order of privilege, Mr. Gbajabiamila, a member of the ACN, argued that the president was in negligence of his primary duty of implementing the budget which would have addressed the nation’s poor infrastructure.
The lawmaker said that while the House should respect the President's personality, there was need to mete out the penalty, as a deterrent to leaders who flout the laws.
"Therefore, I want to hereby submit, that come September, we will begin to invoke and draw up articles of impeachment of Mr. President," he declared while receiving a rousing support of members.
Blame Finance Minister
Mr. Gbajabiamila had hardly finished his speech when he was interrupted by Karibo Soalaboye, a PDP Rep from Bayelsa, who represents the President’s constituency in the House.
Mr. Soalaboye maintained that budget concerns should be laid at the table of the Ministry of Finance.
The Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, agreed with Mr. Soalaboye and sustained his argument.
Poor budget implementation
The impeachment threat came on the heels of a motion by Albert Sam-Tsokwa, a PDP Rep from Taraba, and 20 others on the non-implementation of budgets by the Executive. Hon. Sam-Tsokwa described the budget implementation as an annual national failure, saying only 30 per cent of the budget was implemented on average.
The motion was widely debated by 20 Chairmen of key House committees, including the Committees on Appropriations, Finance, Works, Agriculture, Customs, Gas, and Petroleum (Upstream).
Mr. Sam-Tsokwa expressed concern that seven months into the 2012 fiscal year, the implementation of the budget, as reported by the MDAs, indicates that the recurrent expenditure is judiciously implemented, while the capital expenditure is abysmally implemented.
Citing an order of privilege, Mr. Gbajabiamila, a member of the ACN, argued that the president was in negligence of his primary duty of implementing the budget which would have addressed the nation’s poor infrastructure.
The lawmaker said that while the House should respect the President's personality, there was need to mete out the penalty, as a deterrent to leaders who flout the laws.
"Therefore, I want to hereby submit, that come September, we will begin to invoke and draw up articles of impeachment of Mr. President," he declared while receiving a rousing support of members.
Blame Finance Minister
Mr. Gbajabiamila had hardly finished his speech when he was interrupted by Karibo Soalaboye, a PDP Rep from Bayelsa, who represents the President’s constituency in the House.
Mr. Soalaboye maintained that budget concerns should be laid at the table of the Ministry of Finance.
The Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, agreed with Mr. Soalaboye and sustained his argument.
Poor budget implementation
The impeachment threat came on the heels of a motion by Albert Sam-Tsokwa, a PDP Rep from Taraba, and 20 others on the non-implementation of budgets by the Executive. Hon. Sam-Tsokwa described the budget implementation as an annual national failure, saying only 30 per cent of the budget was implemented on average.
The motion was widely debated by 20 Chairmen of key House committees, including the Committees on Appropriations, Finance, Works, Agriculture, Customs, Gas, and Petroleum (Upstream).
Mr. Sam-Tsokwa expressed concern that seven months into the 2012 fiscal year, the implementation of the budget, as reported by the MDAs, indicates that the recurrent expenditure is judiciously implemented, while the capital expenditure is abysmally implemented.
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