[EDITORIAL] Insecurity And Threat Of Impeaching President Buhari

The mild drama that played out at Nigeria’s Senate Chambers on Wednesday 27th July, 2022 when some senators walked out in protest following Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s shooting down of a motion by some senators to commence impeachment processes against President Muhammadu Buhari following the endless spate of insecurity, was highly indicative of the disenchantment in our corridors of power.

The senators’ walk out action which was largely by the opposition party members and some All Progressives Congress (APC) senators if any thing, has sent signal that some of the lawmakers have completely lost faith in Buhari’s ability to provide security to citizens of Nigeria as mandated by the provisions of the

1999 Nigeria Constitution under the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy.

The impeachment attempt in the Red Chambers similarly got some secondment in the House of Representatives which threatened to commence the process if after six weeks, President Buhari has not done anything to stem the tide of insecurity in the country which currently threatens the corporate existence of Nigeria.

The lawmakers behind the impeachment threat perhaps, worried more than ever before that within a short space of time after the terrorist

bombing of Abuja-Kaduna Train during which some passengers were killed and scores kidnapped for ransom, the terrorists have advanced too close to the seat of power with the attack on Kuje Correctional Centre and ambushing of Presidential Guards in Abuja.

The three hours attack on the Correctional Centre by well armed terrorists had led to the escape of about 800 inmates, some of whom were confirmed notorious terrorists serving jail terms.

While the incident had prompted President Buhari to rhetorically ask “where is intelligence” when he visited the scene, revelations had emerged that the Department of State Service (DSS) which has the statutory responsibility of gathering internal actionable intelligence relating to security of lives and property was said to have made no fewer than 44 submissions of intelligence warning against the possible invasion of the Federal Capital Territory by terrorists.

It was perhaps, the inaction of the presidency to act on the gathered intelligence that partly prompted the opposition law makers attempt to bring the President to book through impeachment. If such a highly privileged revelation could be made about the gathered intelligence by DSS with no action attending to such from the appropriate quarters which are directly under the command of President Buhari as the Commander-in-Chief, the lawmakers would be failing in their duties if nothing was done to checkmate such insensitivity of a president.

The move by the lawmakers to initiate an impeachment process against Buhari after a given time of grace to redress the situation was therefore absolutely right, even though the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan in line with his party interest (not national interest) decided to thwart the move.

The insecurity in the country, to say the least has become quite frightening such that if care is not taken, Aso Rock the nation’s seat of power may be over-run some day, given the audacity with which the terrorists have carried out their attacks in recent time.

Never in the history of Nigeria has our national leadership been threatened by malcontents masquerading as terrorists with such audacious tendencies that are translated into heinous acts. Never has any group of criminals threatened to kidnap our president and gone ahead to attempt it as witnessed in recent time when Presidential Guards were attacked first in Daura, Katsina in June, 2022 and Abuja in July, 2022.

The message in all of this, is that President Muhammadu Buhari has to reverse his posturing from the current state of insensitivity to a proactive approach that could evidently see him as being in charge and decisive as a Commander-in-Chief that knows his onions and not just a mere empty figure head.

The last may not have been heard about the impeachment if the hopeless security situation is not reversed.