Posted by By OLAWALE RASHEED on
AS the National Assembly commences plenary sessions this week, legislative opposition forces are regrouping, threatening to.....
AS the National Assembly commences plenary sessions this week, legislative opposition forces are regrouping, threatening to file an impeachment motion on President Olusegun Obasanjo if the bills on the Interim National Government and disqualification of certain elected officers are presented before the two chambers.
The Nigerian Tribune findings showed that key leaders of the coalition of opposition lawmakers who joined hands to scuttle the third term bid have been meeting in the last one week to fine-tune strategies to checkmate the president as they suspect that loyalists of the president are nursing another hidden agenda.
It was gathered that the group believed those behind the failed third term bid were working on three fronts to scuttle next year's poll.
They are alleged to be deliberately under-funding the electoral commission, championing the disqualification of leading opposition politicians from contesting elections and exploiting loopholes in the constitution to foist interim government on the polity.
Opposition lawmakers who reportedly met last week in Abuja are said to have commenced extensive mobilisation to kill three bills said to be coming to the assembly this week, namely the one giving more powers to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the bill requesting office holders to resign three months to the election and a bill proposing interim government if election could not be held in 2007.
While those at the meeting are not sure of what forms the various bills will take, Nigerian Tribune was told that the directive issued at the meeting was that the members should be vigilant and attend all sittings.
A leading member of the group, Dr. Usman Bugaje, was said to have particularly insisted that the opposition lawmakers should pay close attention not only to bills coming from the executive arm of government but also those coming from the pro-presidency lawmakers.
Beyond the strategies to kill the various bills, Nigerian Tribune was told that the last year of this legislature would be used to beat the president into line over power play on who succeeds him.
The main presidential contenders who believe the president is working against them are said to have directed their loyalists in the two chambers to tighten the noose on the president.
Loyalists of Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Muhammadu Buhari, Aliyu Gusau and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, were reportedly under instruction to take legislative actions on all the reports of the public hearings conducted by both chambers since inception with a view to raising indictments against the executive arm.
The groups which fused together against the third term bid are said to be determined to also force the presidency to release the funds meant for the electoral commission while also raising queries on the issue of illegal deductions from the Federation Account.
On INEC, Nigerian Tribune was told that the opposition will push for a probe into why the commission could not secure due process certificate from the due process office and to determine whether the action was deliberate on the part of the due process office.
A very reliable insider told the Nigerian Tribune that a foundation was being built for the raising of an impeachment motion against the president, adding that 'this time round, it will be a joke very close to reality.
'If all the rumours turn out to be true, the president is going to have it rough. We will push for impeachment and we will damn whatever consequence."
Further investigation, however, revealed that previous impeachment bids were stalled because of the fear of a segment of the opposition about what an Abubakar Atiku presidency will mean for the 2007 presidential race and Nigeria in general.
Some loyalists of General Babangida were said to be wary of an Atiku stepping into the presidency less than ten months into the next presidential election. The issue did not, however, crop up this time round as the groups are said to be more concerned about taming the president before he (the president) destroyed them (opposition leaders).