Reps differ on Bill seeking absolute powers to impeach President

In a dramatic manner, a Bill seeking to confer absolute powers on the National Assembly to solely initiate and execute impeachment proceedings against a sitting President passed second reading at the plenary of the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The Bill seeks to amend Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution.
However, two key Principal Officers of the House, House Leader, Mulikat Adeola-Akande, and Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, opposed the Bill, saying the House already has powers to do that.
Those sponsoring it argued that there are so many “ambiguities in the process of removal of the President and the Vice President from office on allegations of gross misconduct and provide for more transparent and democratic procedure for impeachment and for other matters.”
The sponsors of the Bill, Yakubu Dogara and Chairman of the House Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, Emmanuel Jime, denied the insinuations that the move was targeted at President Goodluck Jonathan.
Jime queried the provision that the Chief Justice of the country should be the one to raise a panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct against the president or the vice president.
He asked: “How can the Chief Justice, who himself is an appointee of the president, be the one to set up a panel to investigate the allegations?”
According to Section 143(5), following a motion supported by at least two-third majority of members of each houses of the National Assembly, “the Chief Justice of Nigeria shall at the request of the Senate President appoint a panel of seven persons who in his opinion are of unquestionable integrity, not being members of any public service, legislative house or political party, to investigate the allegations….”
In her submission, Adeola-Akande described the Bill as “totally undemocratic,” saying that laws are made based on specifics of any given society.
“Nigerian democracy is still too young to be compared with America’s,” she said.
Also, Gbajabiamila noted that the power to impeach the President already resides with the parliament, adding that only “if we can define gross misconduct. The pillars of democracy regarding checks and balances and fair hearing were fully embedded in Section 143.”