The All Progressives Congress has said the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, like the Senate President Bukola Saraki, must resign or be prepared to be impeached.
In separate telephone interviews with Saturday PUNCH, in Abuja, on Friday, the APC acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena and the National Vice Chairman (South-South), Hilliard Eta, said the Speaker was obviously aware of the implications of his decision before he took it.
Nabena said, “It should be obvious to Dogara that his various anti-party activities have reached a final destination with his reported decision to leave the APC.
“He became Speaker because he was a member of our party -even though he has not formally told us of his defection, now that he is reported to have left, the right thing for him to do is to vacate the seat.”
Speaking in a similar vein, Eta said the framers of the Nigerian constitution did not intend for a member of a minority party to superintend over the affairs of legislators of a party that has a clear majority.
He explained that it was against the law of natural justice for the minority, in this case, to preside over the affairs of the majority.
Eta said, “It is not in the intention of the framers of the Nigerian constitution that a member of a party that does not enjoy the majority in the National Assembly should head any of the arms of the National Assembly.
“We are going to impeach them and they will have their day in court. It is a directive of the party to members of our party in the National Assembly to impeach them and then they will have their day in court.”
According to him, the decision of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party which was in power in 2014 not to take issue with the defection of some of its members in the National Assembly from the PDP to the APC, does not prevent the APC from insisting that the right things should be done now.
An online newspaper The Cable, on Friday, reported that the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole had been meeting with party members, particularly members of the House of Representatives in a bid to remove Dogara.
Quoting a source, The Cable said the APC chairman had intensified efforts to oust the speaker after it became public that Dogara was seeking for reelection on the platform of the opposition PDP.
Some of the Speaker’s constituents had on Thursday presented PDP nomination form to him after urging him to leave the APC.
Dogara is yet to make his decision to leave the APC official but he has kept away from the party’s activities over time. He neither participated in the party’s last congress in his constituency nor did he attend the last National Executive Council meeting of the party. (Punch)
