Posted by From Kola Ologbondiyan in Abuja on
Senate Committee Chair-man on Power and Steel, Senator Arthur Nzeribe, yesterday described the verbal exchanges between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, as "unfortunate".
Senate Committee Chair-man on Power and Steel, Senator Arthur Nzeribe, yesterday described the verbal exchanges between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, as "unfortunate".
He expressed his readiness to come up with a motion that would enable the Senate investigate the disagreement between the two.
Nzeribe, who spoke with newsmen in his office at the National Assembly Complex, however, charged Senate President Ken Nnamani to recall his colleagues for plenary sessions, saying that the feud between the President and the Vice President is more important than their recent recall to screen and clear ministerial nominees.
According to him, "this is a matter that requires the Senate investigation because it affects the security of the country and its image and we should investigate it under Sections 88 and 89 (of the 1999 Constitution) to find out the truth.
"Until we investigate, you can not anticipate what the investigation will bring out; but certainly something is wrong, definitely, something is wrong. What is happening now demands a parting of ways, you cannot in all honesty expect both men to work in harmony with what we have heard and read. It is obvious it will affect the working of the government, it will affect policy, it will affect all sorts of things. No confidence."
Reminded that the leadership of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) has intervened in the matter, Nzeribe said that "the party does not deprive the Senate of its powers under Sections 88 and 89. We need to investigate this matter. This is not a matter you can sweep under the carpet, how do you expect the country to run in the next two years with the number one and number two at loggerheads, calling themselves names.
"It's unfortunate. It calls for parting of ways and it shows that there has been continuing feud between both men for them to come out publicly calling themselves liars. Somebody has to give way. I don't see what you can patch up in the circumstances.
'I read this morning (in the newspapers) that party leaders want to step in. This is not a matter that party people should get involved in; it is a matter that requires Senate investigation because it affects the security of the country and its image and we should investigate under Sections 88 and 89 to find out the truth.
"Somebody can bring a motion asking the Senate to investigate under Sections 88 and 89, we are allowed to investigate anything that affects good governance of the country and for the number one and number two citizens to go public calling themselves liars affects the good governance of the country. What the President said amounts to calling the Vice President a liar. I have been waiting since Sunday to see the Vice President's reaction and I have seen none.
"I will bring up the motion. I think this deserves recalling the Senate. This is more important than recalling us to come and approve of ministers. This is a more serious matter that can destroy the country," Nzeribe said.
Asked what the substance of the motion would be, he said: "I am calling for investigation, what is the matter, what is wrong, who is saying the truth? Why do you have to run our government with the swearing of Bible and Koran? Did you make a commitment to 2007 or not?
"Somebody... I am surprised that the nation is not reacting more seriously to these events? Because it is unprecedented, Number One and Number Two. Look at what happened in South Africa, between (President Thabo) Mbeki and his vice (Jacob Zuma) it is not different from what we are having here and you know what happened in the case of South Africa."
Reminded that the situation in South Africa was different from what is happening in Nigeria because that country's case was about corruption, Nzeribe said: "That is what we are going to investigate to find out. The president said doubtful loyalty and this one said you swore for me ahead of 2007 and we heard that FBI went to raid a house, the FBI as we know it or Scotland Yard does not go raiding peoples' houses for nothing."
Asked if his call for the investigation is not a ploy to get Atiku impeached to aid the speculated extension of Obasanjo's tenure, Nzeribe dismissed the question as "anticipatory, hypothetical," lacking in "substance."
"I have not called for impeachment of anybody, all I am going to call for is investigating the issue as we see it. Was there an oath swearing ceremony, was there a promise made, was the presidency being bargained off in advance two or three years to election time? Is the vice president a liar or not a liar?"
Nzeribe also described as "unfair" a question bordering on whether he wants Obasanjo to stay in office beyond 2007 saying, "I have always maintained that President Obasanjo has a right to an ambition, he has the right to seek an extension or fight another election provided it is done legally and constitutionally and there are precedents to show that it can be done, it is doable. But it is not for me to tell Obasanjo whether to seek it or not to seek it.
"He is not going to get elected under this (1999) Constitution. I want to take the liberty of referring you to the case of the five governors where the Supreme Court ruled that you cannot backdate the constitution. If a constitution is made now that says from now on, it will be six years of one term, once you tamper with the constitution you have to start afresh. Once you tamper with a constitution whether by amendment or by rewriting it then means you wipe a slate." He said he would support Obasanjo if the constitution is amended, adding however that the president has not sought his support.
Meanwhile Senator Abu Ibrahim (ANPP Katsina State) yesterday called on the leadership of the Senate to intervene in the disagreement between Obasanjo and Atiku with a view to reconciling them.
According to him, "the PDP leadership cannot successfully reconcile the two leaders because of the crisis of confidences being suffered by the party's national chairman, Dr. Ahmadu Ali over the nomination of his wife and son into the board of parastatals."
He noted that the leadership of the Senate is best suited for the reconciliation ending however, that Obasanjo cannot sack his deputy because of Atiku's political machinery.